you were tied to the corner of the barn,
small brown patch on your back,
excited to be close to fun smells,
tail wagging, but i think
you knew what was about to happen.
i watched from my bedroom window for a moment,
and cried my tears into the pillow,
life without my first friend was about to begin.
i was told what happened,
you passed quickly, went to sleep,
a grateful sigh your last breath,
the vet's job done well.
my brother buried you in the pasture behind the barn -
he didn't tell me where.
but i found you, years later,
your bones curled up in a perfect sleeping pose
in the hollowed-out ruins of an old tree stump.
i still recognized you,
and i wept.