Boots
I come up the stairs
Headed for my bed
Her open door and empty room
Stare back
A pair of winter boots
Cowboy style with fur at the top
Guard her door..
She has left three or four times before
Moved out to make her mark on the world
Stumbled hard a few times
Returned
Picked herself up
And tried again.
This is the first time she left
Belly full of hope
Elijah eight months on
Across town with baby's dad
To an apartment on the third floor
Up steep stairs
Short of money
Struggling to get it right
Once again
My old dog sits on the steps
Looking out the window each night
Waiting for her to return to the pack..
It's been four days and he's worried.
She's not been gone this long,
For a long, long time.
Roe
November 2021

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