The Eyes Follow

If I get up,
Jump!
Open the door,
He hits the floor.

Under foot.
Understands.
Waiting, trembling,
Spring and scrambling.

What's next. 
The front door.
I can't let him loose,
So I scoop up

And squeeze
His warm, little shoulders.
Outside we step.
Necks crane,

Eyes scan the street.
Anxious in our feet.
He fixates on a house
Across the road.

Maybe a mouse,
Maybe a toad.
Stretching towards.
Eyes locked.

Ears loaded.
Over there. Right there.
Wait! Something else
Alarms and strikes.

Bus screeching brakes.
Now, we're a tangle
​Grip and wrangle.
Clawing towards the door.

Only instincts now
And I know enough
To let go.
Not of love.


2/25/22