on the train
heading home
lost in my own thoughts
my heart hurting
a sweet sound breaks through
that of a child howling
not crying, squalling, or fussing
howling
like a wolf at the moon
AH-OOO!
[but not too loudly]
it was a quieter, “ah-ooo”
made me smile
I peeked around my window seat and said aloud to the brown eyed boy behind me, “Is there a wolf back there?”
his eyes got bigger
as did his mother’s smile
I told him I like to howl like a wolf too
added that I have a big dog that looks like a wolf with a long nose and pointy ears and that he has a girlfriend that howled if he didn’t visit her fence fast enough when we went on walks
he has three dogs at home
one of them is named Luna
the same as Blue’s best girl
thankful for this brief moment
on the train taking me home
the day after a memorial service
for my grandfather
he was a moon howler too
great big, giant and loud, “AH-OOO!”
though for thoughtfulness of others
such as inside and on a train car
a quiet, nearly whispered, “ah-ooo”
I love you, Grandpa
Forever
your life’s work and legacy will live on
inside everyone who ever met and knew you and through your stories, music and poems
ah-ooo
ah-ooo
ah-ooo
April 12, 2015
Turquoise Tangles 
Nice, appropriate piece, Janean. I’ll enjoy it.
Thanks for taking the time to read it, dW. This afternoon at the grocery store I heard an owl call, “who who.” There was a little girl riding in the front of the shopping cart facing her father, who-ing like an owl. I smiled. I resisted the urge to answer with a who call of my own, so charmed was I by her making her own fun at the grocery store. Her father was less charmed. I heard him say, “Stop it.” My heart hurt. Mostly because I knew had it been me I’d have who-ed with her and not care who looked on and thought we were a couple of cuckoo birds instead of a pair o’owls. Whimsy, fun, imagination and pretending are part of the magic of childhood. So glad I didn’t miss the wolf on the train and the owl in the grocery store. Both moments I needed. Ah-ooo. Who who. From me to you. ~Janean