It was a summers rain on the porch at Altruria Street when I first knew. You were snuggled against my leg to keep warm and I was running my fingers through your hair, and even though I knew you were drifting into sleep, I kept on talking to you. Stuff I didn't tell anyone. No matter what I said or did your eyes still sought mine with ease. We both wanted that moment to last forever.

I sat the other day looking out the window at the same cold rain falling these thirty years later, remembering the smell of your hair when wet. It wasn't that you were the best dog in the world... but it was that we were each others without measuring.

Solomon said, "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine." That is what we had.

I miss you still, _____, as much as any lover.

[submitted 05/07/03]