Song for Yara

When I watch you outside, like a horse on the run
and I hear your powerful bark thunder across our yard

Or watch you sit alert under the evening sky
every muscle in your strong body ready for any trouble

And you look around in the afternoon sun
your honey brown eyes sharp and keen

I smile at your passion so denied
as often we struggle on your walks to hold you back.

Beautiful, eager, yearning for life to give you a cause
for which to defend and fight

you sit and wait, and dream and sigh
of horizons and spaces that could hold your awe and might.

And maybe, when you watch me dream, like a horse on the run
and hear me voice my longing up to the freedom of the sky

As we both watch the stars light the dark of night
and strain under the limits built around our soul.

You know and understand that you and I both have chains haunting
our days and paths, our eyes and cries.

You and I are so much alike, both too strong for the fences all around
our destiny and time, too vulnerable for the flight so long denied.

Trudi Ralston.
February 3rd, 2014.

I feel a strong connection to our Flemish Bouvier-Labrador, whom we adopted
from a no kill shelter two years ago. In temperament, it fascinates me to observe,
she and I are kindred souls. We have had many dogs over the last 28 years.
With Yara, I feel like I have met a kindred spirit, both in story and heart.