July 4th,1981,candles of a Roman ilk
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Unloaded from a chevy truck
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Into the home her folks had built
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Patio was charcoals and extended fam in folding chairs
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Safely arced around the yard to focus on the smoking flares
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Couple cousins, uncles, aunts, mostly grown-ups, couple brats
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Baby Ruby's only two
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She's too close to the jumping jacks
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Mommy scoops her to the house
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Buckles up the booster seat
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Rolls her to the storm door
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Let her long for all the lunacy
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Telephone distracting Mom
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Ruby wriggles out her strap
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Fingers push the plexi-glass
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She's off into the sour patch
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Past the pyrotechnics undetected and invisible
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Woke the sleeping beagle skipping toward the kidney swimming pool
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Off into the yawning blue
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The splash would mum the rocket-ships
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Ruby's lungs were filling by the time her kin were cognizant
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Many sprung and sprinted down
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All arrive belated but
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The beast she had earlier stirred had been alert since waking up
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Canine let his gainer fly
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Water top commotion grow
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Howling guests assumed the cloven hoofs had come to do-si-do
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Frenzied and congested deck
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Part to let the elders see
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Soggy beagle gently dragging Ruby in his yellow teeth
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Laid the tiny body in the sun before her Fathera˘ć?s feet
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When she choked the liquid through her bluish lips he dropped his knee
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Helped the air to reconvene
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Towel his shaking Ruby off
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EMT confirm the save
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Everybody say
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"Good dog!"
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Ruby '81
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| Aesop Rock |
