To the person who left
An old, deflated basketball
In your back yard

To Mother Nature
Who picked it up
Carried it to the next house
Then the next
Until it rested on a muddy bank
That belonged

To a chocolate lab
Who rescued it
Claimed it
As his own

To the countless hours
Through rain, snow, dust and sunlight
Spent catching, jumping
and loving this half-deflated
Junk that no one else wanted

To the person
Who thought that deflated
Meant not useful enough
Who tossed it aside

To the universe who knew
That a chocolate lab needed it

To the water
That brought it
where it needed to be

To Koda who
Loves, loves, loves
His first, dirty, lumpy basketball
That the universe gifted him another

To the universe
Who knew that a chocolate lab
(and their human)
Would spend countless hours in the yard
Playing, catching and listening

To the universe
Who knew that two, lumpy, half-deflated basketballs meant
More fresh air, more exercise, a friend and friends

To the basketballs
who often sit on our front porch
Lovingly named “Outside Balls”

Thank you

If you liked what you read, considering following me on Instagram @ajmorse_writes and follow my Facebook page A. J. Morse. My poetry book Walking in Cemeteries is available on Amazon here: https://a.co/d/cAsZUxa

For more of Koda, our chocolate lab, you can follow him on instagram @kodabear_thebud.