A Grief Observed

Twelve years to the week
since my canine spirit guide
left my best friend and I
we still seek out his traces
the better to make life seem fuller.

We were his third carers,
and he disappeared, probably died,
he was never apt to leave behind
anything as common as 'a body'.

Whatever we try to be
we are still only a fraction
of the person that he was.

Malcolm (left) , Oscar D. Tail (right) probably circa 2003.