5:30 am

The world is still fast asleep

Deep breaths of fresh air 

Are captured in the windmill of my bones

Rising and falling as I do.

My feet lead me down the path

I’ve traveled thousands of times,

The path that leads to my heart

The path I was raised running down

The path that has carried me through

Countless spinning thoughts.

The squeaky gate alarms my arrival

Disturbing the sleeping air.

His joy is contagious,

The smile on his ears beam at me.

His fur is warm and surprisingly dry

In the clouds that have enveloped the ground around us.

Holding his head in my arms

It is just us against the world

As it has been for as long as we’ve been a team.

Our impending goodbye breaks into my mind

Pounding down the drawbridge

As unwanted invaders.

But they are chased away

By the sound of shielding hoofbeats.

He reminds me not to worry about the future

That time will come

But not today. 

Today it is us

Tomorrow it is us.

It will always be us

Even if not physically.

His hoofbeats

Follow me back to the gate.