in a bath with Bruce Dawe

you and I
in a bath and in love,
only months after we met;
moved in together too soon, 
they said, 
in front and behind our backs.
we did it anyway.
warm water around us, bubbles long faded
we lean into Sunday,
rest in each other’s space,
read poetry together:
Bruce Dawe;
our little dog Henry on the bathmat
loyally waits.
we splash him for fun and he bites at the water,
the tiles growing slippery as he runs
back-and-forth 
back-and-forth   
skips, barks, spins, skids
until he falls 
a fall 
that took a part of me, 
forever.
his little legs splayed, he stops, 
unable to move.
for days after, you carried him 
up and down our stairs, 
held him gently on your lap;
each day you sat, still and silent,
so he slept
unaffected by your movements; 
watching you, 
I knew you were the one.

Lisa Reily is a former literacy consultant, dance director and teacher from Australia. Her poetry has been published in several journals, such as Amaryllis, London Grip, Panoplyzine, Magma Poetry and Sentinel Literary Quarterly magazine. You can find out more about Reily at lisareily.wordpress.com. This poem was first published in Channel Issue 1.