Inside the Moon by Pamela Laskin

Inside the Moon To Melanie

1.

Mother-in-law

mourns

her Fred

sixty years wedded

(not always blissfully),

but it was a marriage;

now

the bed is empty,

and off on the side

Melanie

the blind, deaf

lap dog.

11.

When Sonia agreed

to care for Gladys

Melanie came with her

the mayor of Bayridge;

all the neighborhood kids know her

as the sightless dog.

111.

She never mourned

that she couldn’t see,

never knew sight

was a birthright

like food or sleep.

1V.

Mother-in-law tells us

to lower our voices

for fear of waking

Melanie.

V.

When darkness comes

raging with nightmares

there is Melanie

with her gangly paws

and moon-drenched

empty sockets,

licking her wounds

back to sleep.

 by Pamela L. Laskin (bigapplepoetpam@aol.com)