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King Ralph

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Bittersweet remembrance

As we have

Of all

Remembrance

This of my dog

Our dog

The family dog

From years ago

I used to take him

To the creek

Way out back

Behind the neighborhood

I’d let him run

Through rocks and water

(all was shallow)

He was free

And yet he stayed

With me

There was an incident

With some cows

Imagine the same patched colors

On the bovines

And himself

But came back

Under the fence

And through the water

And the rocks

Once again

But tempers reigned

Among the humans

And I left

I did not see Ralph again

Getting old and sick

As we do

Weighed down by disappointments

Maybe

As we have

Yet I remember liveliness

The chain leash upon the hook

(irony

for freedom)

That I pulled

Only a little

And from wherever

Ralph came running

Knowing it was time

To go out

And run some more

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Photo by Alvan Nee on Unsplash

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