I saw my old dog
die in front of me,
looking at me with
strange eyes as his body
fell in lifelessness.

And I sat beside him
for a long while
and touched his fur,
and remembered him as a
pup who ran to me
bouncing here and there
with such love in days
when I was much younger
and played with him.

I dug a hole in our yard
and buried him there shrouded in
the soil from whence he came,
for this was the only world
that he had ever known,
and he belongs with the trees and plants
that had always been his friends.

I laid him down with tears
but with no regret, for his life was
long and he had known love
and remains part of all of us.

 

1/4/2023