Monday 9 January 2012

Small Stone - Jan 9th


You wouldn’t have to be a quick brown fox to jump over my dog. I put it down to the unknown greyhound in her make-up, though I don’t know that for sure. A puppy still, she does have bursts of frantic, frenetic energy as she races round her imagined track, full speed and grinning manically, but largely she lazes about, long legs concertinaed with elegantly crossed front paws.

This morning she manages to combine two of her favourite activities. She lounges and she looks. Stretched out beside me on the bed she is at the same time perfectly relaxed, yet immersed in observant scrutiny as she peers out at the field beyond my garden. To my eyes the expanse of emerald green is empty of all life, yet still she stares.

I change from reading to distance glasses, in an effort to catch a glimpse of whatever is holding her attention, but all is still. No horse stretches his head over my fence to eat nettles, no rabbits dart across the verdant green down to the narrow stream, not even a bird flies past to lightly settle on branch or shed roof.

I look at her eyes. Do they focus on a secret world invisible to humans? Tomorrow I will fetch binoculars along with my morning cup of tea.