Love Embodied

I had the privilege of being asked to write a poem for this morning's church service.  The theme was the healing power of animals so, of course, I had to write about my buddy Mo-Man.  

Below, a picture of Marshall (clearly the most important thing here), the text, and an audio file of me reading it (at home, not at church).  Enjoy (particularly the picture.  That's the only really important thing!).  

Love Embodied

I went to 7 years of higher education

1 year of internship

and 2 years of postdoc

and I'll still

never be as good a therapist as Marshall.

Marshall is a 26 lb, white, curly haired,

black nosed, floppy eared,

4 legged bundle of love embodied.

He's not too sure who his mother was

has never had a father figure,

he had a rocky beginning that made him

scared of life itself, but now

this guy is perfectly well-adjusted.

Like Marshall, the best therapists teach us

how to find joy in the smallest things and

that unbridled excitement lies in the ordinary -

things like car rides, toilet paper tubes, dirty socks...

they teach us that we should fiercely protect

all we hold dear

even if it means barking at the mailman,

the neighbor, the squirrel on the porch,

they remind us

that our hearts are worthy of protection,

that we deserve

a deep and abiding knowledge that we are

worthy, and loved

if only because we walked in the door.

His tail

says more in 5 seconds

than I can in my entire 50 minute session

and as full as my body gets

with passion and love and more empathy than my skin can contain

my butt just does not wiggle,

my ears do not flop,

and thus I have no hope

of ever measuring up.

Marshall, I tell him,

some days this life is just

too much.

He nuzzles his head under my arm

crawls into my lap

rests his head against my chest

stares into my face

then sighs, satisfied with his work

as if to say

this.

This right here

is what the whole world needs.

I'm not one who often

takes advice from those who

roll on dead things or

smell others bottoms upon first meeting,

but I try to learn his simplicity as he

enters my space gently

looks at my face with soul-filled eyes,

reads my body and settles in to say:

we'll just sit here then,

feeling what we feel,

until we're ready to move on.

Don't worry

I'll keep loving us in this moment,

regardless.