“Let the little children come to me.”
Matthew 19:14 ESV

It was a Lucy dog, Australian shepherd,
not German, not even that American
of all herding dogs, rescuer of Timmy
from the well, a bearded collie,
but Lucy diamonded from the sky–
red-orange and white, brown patches
of the fecund earth of Eden, puppy Lucy

beside the baby cradled in a manger
in a stable, and placing her front paws
on the gunnels of the infant’s rocking boat,
she leaned into the swaddling
to lick his cheeks hello baby,
I am sent to therapy you in your walk
to the cross, the tomb, harrowing
the underworld, and rising,
having learned all a shepherd dog
can teach about bending down to children
opening and closing their fingers in
the pillowed fur, pressing their face
into the aroma of frankincense and myrrh,
that gold available to all who become
as children dancing and laughing,
Lucy’s feathers waving in time with
this song. Of such is the kingdom of heaven.