Poem: The green patch

Take a minute or 5
Step away, rest your eyes
Doctor's instructions

Itch to 'facebook' as I break
Add the 'green patch' to my page
No! must follow directions

Put my head back and contemplate
Of 'stuff' to add and to update
The 'green patch'

And my mind wanders to a walk at 5 a.m. ...

A walk at 5 a.m.
Feeling grouchy and lame;
Demanding and needy
Pets are over-rated!

Stumbling along
Him pulling, I tugging
Breaking the silence
With my shrieked commands

Chiding myself
Reminding myself
45 minutes said the dog whisperer!

With that fire hydrant to my temper
Shrugging and settling into routine
He ambles, I drag my feet
And we do the usual beat

Early is quiet
Cool despite the summer
Birds already about
River is still
Is that an otter?
Are there otters in New York?

Tongue lolling (he's too happy!)
He turns to look at me
I can't help but smile
At his stupid face and its stupid gaiety
(Who am I kidding! He's a handsome brute!)

We walk to the sand bar
The still water yipping gently at its edges
A half-finished bottle of Pepsi
Bobbing up and down on the waves
This is as close as it gets to nature
In the big city

He chases geese
I stand and look
In the far distance
Sun peeping over the shoulders of the Empire State
Brooklyn is waking
Lady Liberty preened from a previous night's rain
One end to the other of the panoramic view
Made just for me

He's ready to go -
The fresh bite mark on my wrist does not lie
Back to his ambling and
My dragging of feet
But refreshed and ready
I plant one more sweet memory in my green patch ...

(c) VedicVerses (Rucha Gokhale)