Faith in Dogs

a winter midnight and

shadows of human feet

interrupt the thin bar of light

lining the threshold

at the bottom of your

locked bedroom door

you’ve lived

for many years alone

in the big quiet house

with your dogs

who this night

don’t bark or stir

from their untroubled sleep

you sigh and turn the other way

under the warm comforter

between the clean white sheets

in the uncertain company of ghosts