Man and Dog, Footprints in Snow

 

Bitter cold. No one is abroad.

I have been looking everywhere for you.

If you don’t believe me, 

Look at my footprints in the snow.

 

--(anonymous, translated from the Chinese by Kenneth Rexroth) 

 

**

 

My dog and I leave two sets of footprints. Together we are a lyric poem, the dog with a temple in her mind--incense, tall windows; and the man with his capacity for being lost. What are we looking for? A house, a door, a familiar street...Other times it’s peace of mind we’re after. Two sets of prints. One creature.