Throughout the night she rides me bareback,
weathering my fitful tremors and convulsions
with the grace of a natural champion.

She's there to soak up the heat generated
by my overwrought dreams, to purr quiet
affirmations into ears that have gone all day
without a single good word.

Out on the streets there's the usual heartbreak and gunfire,
but I am protected: when the crimson moon
makes its inevitable skylight entrance.

Puppy does not howl but rather devours it
in neat, sharp bites.

And in the soft focus of the morning's first light.
I wake to find her sapphire eyes
staring steadily into mine, hooking me tight,
reeling me in to a new dawn.

MATTHEW NESS is currently a document writer at a software company. He has a BA in Creative Writing from UC Santa Cruz. Matthew used to be on a poetry slam team and has worked as a staff writer for Might Magazine.