moving on

I am moving from my Colorado home of nearly 24 years (35 years in Colorado).  The house is in disarray, many familiar objects packed, unfamiliar echoes in emptier rooms.  My old fat bastard cat, Boris, and the irrepressible Lab, Monique, cautiously prowl their disrupted environs.

animals always know
something's
up

cats switch their tails
dogs look questioningly
- as only dogs, especially Labs, can look -

there's a plaintive meow,
a rubbing against my leg
a paw on my lap

allowances are made
for petting
and cat business is left
unattended

the dog plops at my feet,
grounding me
in familiar places

it's as if they've already heard
the strain of the moving van
grinding past the corner
of Virgina and Suncrest,
rounding the sharp corner
and down-shifting
into their lives