I laid down with you
warm in my arms
you as big as a colt
still possessed of a
steed’s mature grace
unaware of the grief in
my desperate embrace
nose to nuzzling nose
loyal lush-as-mink fur
to my guilt-ridden skin
I dropped tears on the
cold stainless steel
antiseptically morbid
but ringing with trust
in each thump of your
pain-flaunting tail we
were close we were
closer than ever in
eighteen sweet years
as the vet at my nod
pushed the plunger that
instantly stilled the soft
smile of your brows and
extinguished your eyes