Poetry Month 2013 - Day 4

The Man

Part 2 of A Man

When the man came home from walking his dog

he sat on his porch and contemplated the one star
he could find in the sky this night. He thought of his wife,
five years dead, and the unfilled time of her absence.

Not that he wouldn’t have liked the company of others,

         -  especially another woman -
but it wasn’t his way to venture outside himself.
 
Sometimes the man sat on his porch waiting
for the next day to arrive.
When it did, he went inside, showered,
dressed, ate a bowl of cereal
               -  today it was Corn Flakes  -
 and took the dog for her morning walk.

When they got home,

he filled the dog’s dish with kibble

and a larger bowl with water.
He rubbed his dog’s belly, gave her a kiss
and went back down to Boeing  to work on the aircraft again.
                                                         - Esther Altshul Helfgott