I woke up to find the door to my home is open,

outside the temperature was below zero,

I walked through my family room and stepped off the carpet

to stand on my freshly polished wood floor,

to shut the door.

I suggested to a family member,

‘Would you please, shut the ‘front’ door?’

~

I didn’t think about the man miles away

that slept under the bridge using cardboard

to shelter his tattered body

from the world’s ill effects.

~

I felt the cool breeze move through my exposed walls,

and with frustration stood up to ignite

my gas fireplace, wondering where the remote

had disappeared to, probably under the couch,

sat down again and watched the flame

lick the glass wall.

~

I didn’t look for the remote,

instead I ignored the notion

that there is someone nearby

without hat and gloves …

~

Our new puppy just hopped up on the couch and gouged me

with an innocent paw,

bouncing across my laptop

causing me to have to backspace a few

mistyped letters on the keyboard.

I gently pushed her aside and drew my fingertips

along her soft fur, and she licked my monitor.

‘Damn dog,’ I thought to myself as I brushed her

off the couch and watched her toddle away.

~

I remembered last night

I could hear a couple of coyotes

baying at the new moon,

in the arctic blast of an hour.

~

I imagined how selfish I had become on today this special day,

when we celebrate our lives and family

with good food and football on

our LCD and Plasma TVs.

I watched our puppy move through the room

never thinking about being fed,

just checking her bowl

with a patient wag of her tale.

~

I wondered about just how far my jaded healthy mind had gone to even begin to believe

my world was as difficult only because I wasn’t getting what I entitled myself to believe.