That Painfully Observed Void

Perfect, this Easter Friday, for a
walk in the woods with our 
aged and ageing little dogs.  A
smiling sun moderating the high 
wind clacking tree tops, moaning 
and thrashing the evergreen boughs, 
crows wide-winged, coasting
and cawing, their voices swept away.


From the neighbourhood around,
others too have ventured out,
those with rambunctious young dogs,
giddy with the freedom to roam and
run amok after squirrels searching
out cached peanuts.  And then,
those others too, seldom now seen, 
nostalgic for earlier times.


Taking pensive walks together,
quietly recalling all those years
of rambles, though not particularly
recently.  A prodding urgency has
brought them there, in recognition
of times past, with fondly recalled
companions whose passing has
left that painfully observed void.