Elegy for Lilly

Seeing the colossus approaching
us on the forest path it is not
difficult to imagine this steamy,
humid post-rain atmosphere
hosting forest giants. But this is
a giant whose name we know
whose sons we have met, whose
granddaughters we've spoken with,
familiar to us. It's just that something
is dreadfully awry. It's his unusual
presence, absent his companion
and when we ask, expecting his
usual laugh that she'll be along
directly, after loitering behind some
trees, we understand that we will
never see Lilly again. As her name
implies, a lady of profound dignity.
A sweet-tempered, patient and
profoundly intelligent partner
suddenly gone. No more will our
two puppies rush in eagerness
toward her, nor she gently abide
their ill-mannered rush. He stands
before and well above us calmly
explaining how his life has been
diminished. And we know that
he is bereft for their interspecies
compact, that of a man and a 
German Shepherd of impeccable
mutual trust has been sundered.