Thoughts of a Growing Puppy

Do they still love me?

I don't like it when
my squeaky toys stop squeaking.
I don't like it when
my stuffed toys lose their stuffing.
I don't like it when
my bouncy ball stops bouncing for me.

Every day I am growing
bigger in mind and body.
Every day I feel farther away
from the puppy I once was.
At heart, I am still a puppy, but...
I am slowly becoming a dog.
A full-grown dog.
A very large dog.
And the thought of it scares me.

My person is so small
compared to me.
She has bones as thin as sticks
and probably just as strong.
I want to play with her so much
but I fear I am in the wrong.

I do not want to hurt her
or cause her any fear.
I do not want to make her upset
or make her mad at me.

But every day, I grow bigger and bigger,
I am seven months now.
It is hard to believe that only a season ago
I was living somewhere else.

I do not remember my brothers and sisters,
if I had any at all.
The only sister I know about
is my person.
She is the only sister for me.
The only one I have to know.

I love her very much
but does she love me back?
As I grow from a tiny pup
sitting on her lap...
Does she see me differently,
as a monster or a fiend?

As I grow older and older
my worries grow with me.
I try to take my mind off things
by playing chase with my toys.
She doesn't throw them for me anymore.
Not often, at least.

My old toys, reduced to rags,
Are the remnants of the dog I was.
And no matter the new squeaking animals,
The new rolling balls I get...
I still feel the voids where the old toys were.
And the new scent of the new toys makes me ill.
But their shiny surfaces,
their spirited sounds,
Entice my puppy spirit to play.
Until the squeaky toys stop their squeaks.
Until the stuffed toys lose their stuffing.
Until the bouncy balls stop bouncing.

I am still a puppy, see,
In spite of my size.
I still love my family,
they can see that in my eyes.

I just hope that my person,
My skinny, stick-boned, frail little person,
still loves me just as much.

Author's Note

Wow, it's been a very long time since I wrote anything O-O
This is written in the perspective of, and for, my puppy Beowulf. He's seven months old now, and as a growing Great Dane...he's huge. I've often wondered what he would be thinking about, as both of us go through the trials of growing up and leaving behind our childhoods. And strangely enough...we're both still children underneath.