Musical Selection: Gregory Porter featuring Kem|Holdin’ On
Spring Chicken
A Poem for Jernee’s 12th Birthday
This sweet girl walks with me
on days when the sun debates
on whether or not it wants
to shine.
She paws at my tears, kisses
them away, and settles into
my lap, nestling in for
comfort.
I keep us warm, the blanket
sprawled out, reaching from
one end of the chair to the other.
She senses when I need a break,
when there should be rest,
and sometimes I take her
cue—my body calms itself,
we slow down.
For twelve years, I’ve had
my heart balanced between
love of self and love of pet and
with every year given to us,
I feel my heart’s strength,
I feel it becoming
what it was not
in the days before
Jernee.
She fails to realize that she’s
no spring chicken anymore
and neither am I. I bathe
in her fiery antics—the reminders
of the aged depending on
youthful ways.
Frolicking on our walks,
curious about the enticing wind.
I do not question her wisdom,
she lends proof of it
regularly.
I lean into my girl,
mindful of her love for me,
a surefire love . . .
I know I will never
get another like her.
I know I will never
be the same without her.
©2020 Tremaine L. Loadholt
Author’s Note: April 06, 2020, was Jernee’s twelfth birthday. We got up, went for a mile and 1/2 walk, enjoyed the sunshine, the singing birds, and the sounds of my neighbors’ kids playing outside our building. It was a great day.
