Reading Eyes - July 23, 2025

I pass this guy most mornings

leashed to a pair of eager young dogs

he takes a wide berth, never acknowledges

me or even looks up, while his puppies’ tails

wag nearly out of their sockets as they strain

with a whine to come meet me

he passes, committed to his isolation, as the

little dogs with their pleading eyes, hungry

for love, crazed to connect, are dragged away

far down the street I look back

they’re still watching me

but I can no longer read their eyes