How Most of the Dreams Go

First, it's a fawn dog, and then

it's a baby. I'm helping him

to swim in a thermal pool,

the water is black as coffee,

the cement edges are steep

so to sink would be easy

and final. I ask the dog

(that is also the child),

Is it okay that I want

you to be my best friend?

And the child nods.

(And the dog nods.)

Sometimes, he drowns.

Sometimes, we drown together.

Copyright Credit: Ada Limon, "How Most of the Dreams Go" from The Carrying. Copyright © 2018 by Ada Limon. Reprinted by permission of Milkweed Editions.

Source: The Carrying (Milkweed Editions, 2018)