There are muddy paw prints

on the side of the bath

and I wonder if he is simply trying to learn

how to use it without opposable thumbs

or winding me up, knowing how much

I dislike cleaning the bath

at the best of times,

trying to scrub away my tide mark;

a tide mark which in essence

is my muddy paw print,

a sign I was here,

lathered and blue, then red

and perhaps I shouldn’t wash it away

after all, it is a legacy

no matter how minute;

it is a little part of me and think

of how many people have been found

thanks to the marks they’ve left,

so perhaps if I leave mine,

they’ll find me too

and show me the way to her

when I look in the mirror.

 

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© Kristiana Reed 2019