YouTube Poem: Throw and Chase by Mark Tulin

A poem about our lifelong connection to animals.

Throw and Chase

I keep tossing the red ball

into the tumbling waves,

and my dog retrieves

and his paws keep paddling

while it seems that time slows,

and we never seem to tire,

but keep our game going

in an endless succession

Throw and chase is our ritual,

a man-dog brotherhood,

our way of staying connected,

sharing the sun-splattered instant

when the morning feels fresh forever,

and the waves never cease

As the seasons pass,

we eventually grow old,

my dog will develop a bad hip

I will inherit my mother’s cataracts

and my eyes too blurry

to play in the bright sunshine

on the damp sands of the beach

We will become two aging comrades

who prefer the quiet of a living room

I will lean back in my lounger,

my dog curled up by my feet

on a throw rug near a space heater,

while we nostalgically remember

my dog so excited by the chase,

and me, more than happy to throw.

Originally published on Letterpile.com