Walking with Sophie

A poem of remembrance

© Dennett 2018 — Sophie

We walk with you
but you’re not here.

Your collar hangs on
the bag I carry —
I touch it often
remembering you
leading the way
when you were healthy,
lagging behind when
you weren’t.

Your sister’s in front now
that you aren’t.
Does she still miss you?
I don’t know.

For a week, she did,
crying at night,
walking through rooms
looking for you in corners and
under furniture.

At the door,
she looked behind
hoping you were there,
that you’d run ahead
as you always did
to be first to pee
in the garden.

I let her smell your collar,
a simple gesture of desperation —
anything to stop her sorrow —
and it worked.