I woke from a dream of a memory
of a story you told me: you had
a yellow dog who ran loose in
the woods and the neighbors
hunted him.
I asked you and you laughed and
you said you never told me that
story, that you never had a
yellow dog.
You told me that the dream of the
yellow dog means I'm chasing
happiness, that I'm held back
by fear, by doubt.
Fear, surely. Doubt, not anymore.
I can still see it in my mind, the
yellow dog flashing in and out
amongst the trees, a lab maybe
or a golden retriever.
I've never had a yellow dog.
Dogs are sentinels in the cards,
the guardians of boundaries.
Dogs bring messages of hope
and good tidings.
Dogs are happy creatures, cheerful,
optimistic, bounding through life
with affection and joy.
What they have they give away
without hesitation, without
condition.
They look ahead only to the next
moment. They provide what's
needful, what's asked of them,
and more.
Am I chasing happiness?
Even in the middle of these dark
woods, this pathless place where
there are no breadcrumbs to follow?
Were the neighbors the parts of
myself that so fear the unknown
that they fool themselves into
believing they can shape the
future, bring the gods them-
selves to heel?
I woke from a dream of a memory
of a story you told me.
Maybe I'm chasing happiness.
Maybe it was just a dream.
Maybe someday we'll find
the yellow dog.
Together.
December 23, 2025
