Last night
you joined me in my dream.
We took a walk
like we always used to do
to that place
you always loved
down by the river.
I threw a stick
into the shallows and you ran
as if a ghost dog
I couldn’t see
might get there first.
You brought it back to me
and dropped it at my feet,
looking up with the happiest face
I’d ever seen
free of pain… of weariness… and burden.
At the end of my dream
you trotted off to your heavenly home,
wagging your tail
just so I’d know
you didn’t mind.
I woke up to another day without you – and I smiled!

This one’s for you, Heidi Girl, to commemorate what would have been your 17th birthday. It is a follow-up to my post A Poem for Heidi