A Greeting

A happy clattering greets an open door, 

Hurried, pattering nails click on the linoleum floor;   

Around the corner emerges a hurtling missile, 

A familiar fur coat, instantly visible.  

Pink tongue like a ribbon, offering wet kisses 

Upon outstretched palms, gentle as whispers; 

Quick, panting breaths and a wagging tail,

Expresses a love that never grows stale.

Elated, this bundle of joy dashes off in a blur 

Of velvety, fuzzy, white-ticked fur; 

To return scampering like a spring fawn, 

Gripping a stuffed duck in slobbery jaws. 

High, cartoonish squeaks echo in the hall,  

As the fluffy toy duck is playfully mauled.

Then spinning furrily, a four-legged pirouette, 

Marks the zenith of a friends’ reunion, happily-met. 

What a simple joy it is to hear, 

These clattering nails on the linoleum floor,

And the hurried, happy pattering,

That greets an open door.