Dog in Bed

BY JOYCE SIDMAN

Nose tucked under tail,

you are a warm, furred planet

centered in my bed.

All night I orbit, tangle-limbed,

in the slim space

allotted to me.

If I accidentally

bump you from sleep,

you shift, groan,

drape your chin on my hip.

O, that languid, movie-star drape!

I can never resist it.

Digging my fingers into your fur,

kneading,

      I wonder:

How do you dream?

What do you adore?

Why should your black silk ears

feel like happiness?

This is how it is with love.

Once invited,

it steps in gently,

circles twice,

and takes up as much space

as you will give it.

Poem copyright ©2003 by Joyce Sidman, whose most recent book of poems is Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature,Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. Poem reprinted from The World According to Dog, Houghton Mifflin, 2003, by permission of Joyce Sidman and the publisher.