By the Time I Found You

Two dogs on a porch
Talking nonsense 
Animal sounds and infusions 
Of lustful wondering 

I turned red and then 
I turned to you

The graceful day of sitting
Lost of grace 
Demeaning 
All the same we stood
Sitting

Days and hours passed
Between a few places here and there
Mostly nowhere-
Oblivion

The dogs were fed
They came around every other day
So I could wash my hardened 
Book cover
Without growing rust over 
Their many lost paths

But the rain grew stale
Buckets in a row stacked-
Filled
The catch of it was not me

The graceful day of sitting
Came to us wrapped in blue
Only two months after ordering 
Paying extra for express
Shipping  

The dogs stayed away in fear 
Of fleas or perhaps
It was the medicine they gave 
Me

We held still long enough
To nearly not move
Smoking the flavor of watermelon 
Out of a water dispenser
Two dogs without owners

I turned red then 
I turned to you

We breathed mouth to mouth
Together
No life rejected

And I thought to myself
When we are young and 
Gray
This will be a lovely story to tell 
No one 

Retrogressing-
And I, your youthful fountain
With eyes wide open
Glassed over
By the time I found you