Sick Puppy

Who has not watched with alarm
When a puppy suddenly flops?
An hour before nothing could stop
The playful games.
Now lying still, limp as a rag – touching and uncomplaining
She accepts things as they are.
Despair wrings the heart and time
Waits in a place of fear.
Vets are grave, carefully listing possibilities.
Hours of checking – too hot, too cold?
A tearful night of making pacts with God
While childhood fears come back to haunt.
Let her rest, the vet has said
Let her live is all I beg.
And in the morning eyes bright and thirsty as a sponge
With no memory of dismay
My puppy greets the day.