It was just you and the beach and the ocean and the fence,

and I worried you were alone and lost

My camera captured you and I watched you,

just in case you needed to be rescued.

I saw you see me

I saw you watching me as I wondered who you were,

and as if you thought I was someone you knew

You ran across the beach to meet me on the boardwalk.

You found the space in the fence and came to me

as if you knew me.

I stopped the camera, in fear of frightening you away.

A woman yelled way down the beach, almost walking in the water,

calling “Brooks! Brooks!”

“I’ve got him,” I yelled back. “Don’t worry.”

The woman ran across the beach to meet me on the boardwalk.

Out of breath and pale with fear,

she told me she was only the dogsitter and I looked like his owner.

Brooks let my cool hands touch his head.

I told him he was okay.

I told him he was a good boy

before I let him go back to the beach and the wind and the waves

and the woman who didn’t know him at all.