Favoured Pets

The mere happenstance sight of a
small dog in unexpected places
accompanying its people
accustomed to deferring to the
little beast's disinclination not
to be included in all and varied
destinations, arrests attention
unleashing a gust of memory
fond appreciation and regret
with their own experience;
joy in companionship and
grievous loss. Their tenderly
brief fondness for the small
creature a lesson in emotional
irrationality augmented by a
deeply held anguish over an
inevitability common to us all,
acknowledged by the sensitive,
ignored by the oblivious.
Companion animals teach us 
much about requited love not
species-specific-dependent.