Forged by bicycle rides and ice cream sprinkles,

We swore we would be friends until our skin wrinkles.

Your life path would stray from mine, mine from yours, No longer together as both.

Years would pass without a call, But still we held onto our childhood oath.

***

The patter of paws trailed behind me

Enticed by kibble and walks “she” became “we.”

Even when I was the one to put her down,

S...

Her feet strike the wood floor matching my gait.

I can’t see her but I know she is there as I often hear her talking with ghosts of people we both held dear.

She walks alongside me to my coffee shop keeping me company at the place where we once knew everyone, but now no more.

My children who used to cling to her and thought she was their hero look around her beyond her and still don’t see h...