Pursuit

Consider an arc crossing the cosmos
nine billion light years away
a bit of order making the chaos

spookier             Consider a small boy
flying through a park                   chasing two
huskies               one with gray eyes

The boy’s not calling their names
simply running and waving a strap
while his dogs scamper away

and don’t even stop to sniff
my own tame hound               Who gives
a child such a task               For a while

I follow at a distance               then
cut the angle toward pines
and brush–home to rabbits
that might draw the truants

The gathering dark               of course
swallows the trio               leaves me
another sad adult lagging behind
staring up at stars I can’t name

Michael Lauchlan has contributed to many publications, including New England Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The North American Review, Louisville Review, Poet Lore, and Lake Effect. His most recent collection is Trumbull Ave., from WSU Press.