My attention is decisively
on the girl outside with the small dog.
She is picking her way through trees,
the leaves patterned on her already patterned dress.
She moves into the sunlight and her hair becomes the sun.
The dog worships the sun-goddess;
when she sits on a rock, he crawls to her lap.
She gives him freedom, drops the leash
and he, mud-colored, orbits her still.
They are moving again.
The dog is sniffing and the girl circles him.
Astronomy is turned back 500 years.