It’s a pleasant night First one in a while I haven’t taken Lexie fetching for a while either — overworked So, instead of taking a right we take a why not Can’t see a moon to light our way but the suburb lights reflect in the pink clouds Park closed at dark Park Authority I'll tell them I didn’t see I don’t even know if she’ll want to fetch She’s all sniffs I let her off leash — no running to the stream As we pass it by She shyly deviates tween path and brook Only when I go off–path does her tail wag and her feet scamper to water I᾿m surprised to find the stream half–frozen a sheet of ice spreads towards the middle No sticks around, so I climb onto the tree fallen across the stream and fetch one there amidst the debris Will she need daylight to see or is it some other sense? I throw it into the stream and she fetches it back I throw it in again; she’s taking a while she needs daylight, I guess Here comes Lexie dragging this mythical log Strange, pure, hewn branch from the river bottom Not waterlogged, just heavy in solidity She can’t even drag it out of the water just up to the shore and tears off half its bark in one bite So, over and over, mythical log to be dredged from the bottom of icy river on beautiful night Headlights peek at me for a while and fade an ambulance siren blares a police copter circles around Mocking my fears — no one cares Lexi scampers around the sheet of ice not finding the branch in the depths “Get it!” I cheer, and she goes in and drags it out again