RALLY
I knew you were ready to die.

We carried you in a blanket out into the courtyard to feel the day, breezes and distant barking, birdsong,
all the smells and scent of bosque and prairie
this place once was.

We knew you were ready to die.

Sitting beside you unable to stand waiting for Doctor Heidi
waiting for the end.

You knew you couldn’t get up, stand unassisted any longer. Rested, filled with a dozen shared years.
Peaceful. Calm.

You left me alone, today
and if I were wholly alone, I would follow.

I would follow you into death and darkness knowing there is nothing there for either of us. Memories remaining here for others.

The years we spent together as companions
especially our walks defined by sight and sound and smell, this prairie, this high desert all round us –
filled a certain need recognized by ancient genes.

A need described before we discovered language. And this would be a good day to die.

You left me alone, today
and if I were wholly alone, I would follow.

I would follow you into death and darkness; but, there is a light here –

Helen is the light
she is more than a companion.

She is the best part of my life.

Helen has become the love that joins all our emotions, the star that found you one morning.

And this would be a good day to live. A little while longer.

My own step slows along the path we walked together.