Innocence
Michèle Cooke
We asked 500 people:
What makes a puppy-dog happy?
Love
Warmth
Shelter
They said.
They didn't ask: which pedigree? Which mix?
What makes a person happy?
Love
Warmth
Shelter
Was what they all agreed.
No need to ask
If black
Or white.
Muslim
Or
Israeli.
Protestant
Catholic
Jew.
Not gay
Or straight
Old or
Young
Not woman
Man
Or both.
Just you
Me
Us.
I sit in the train to Dublin, next to an elderly Irish couple. They bicker a little, laugh, hold hands.
I button up my jacket. Feeling the cold here, are you, pet? Must be a lot warmer, where you come from.
I am made into a foreigner. Again. Why, then, does my mouth not freeze? What makes my eyes feel soft, not hard? Pet. One tiny touch of warmth.
Puppy-dogs and people.