As a puppy
He would run right up your chest
  In bed
In the morning
Ceaselessly tickling your face
  with his wild tongue 
Getting all the salt a face can hold
  Joyous

Now his clouded eyes still beam 
with the relentless love
  that has always shone there
Straight to my breaking heart
the authenticity of death
  has captured his mobility 

Time to lift him up from 
  the bottom of the stairs 
To lay between us
  in what are
These final days 

He no longer is eating 
He is sleeping and 
      slowly,   patiently waiting 
Somehow still radiant 
  with love

My heart will always 
  be with him
    in the earth of our garden 

May 21, 2025 SGL Brunswick, ME