My neighbour

has a three-legged,

chocolate brown

Border Collie.

Every afternoon

I stand

at my window

and watch

her exuberant,

lopsided

joy

as she discovers

the familiar route

of her daily walk,

once again.

If she could

talk

she would tell you of

a long line

of hard-working

ancestors

who helped bring

order

to the

chaos

that often accompanies

farming life.

Speed,

and

agility

are in her DNA,

but

not

in

her bones

and

she has every right

to

mourn

the limb

that

never was —

the

absent

appendage

to her

wholeness.

But

all

she

does

is

live.

Loud,

vigorous

and

ebullient,

with

open-mouthed

enthusiasm

at

the great fortune

of

yet another

day.

And

my heart

contracts

at this

choosing

to grab life

and shake

it

upside-down

until all the

good

has fallen

out

of

its

pockets,

in

spite

of

all

that was

lost.

— Lessons on joy.

© Liezel Graham 2018.