Bruno, My First Pet

Aubrey Lynch

 Dear Bruno, my first pet

You looked at me

with a soulful emptiness in your eyes.

Your watchful eyes spoke extensively

of inhuman wisdom.

Your fawn fur

was soft on my hands.

Your floppy ears

fit perfectly between my fingers.

You taught me that love

doesn’t keep those we hold dear alive

for us to love more deeply.

When you got sick,

I was too young to understand

that you were gone.

I know now

I will never see you again,

and I don’t chase your memory,

but I still love

the quiet devotion

you gave me.

Aubrey Lynch is a junior writing and environmental conservation major at Cedar Crest College. She is from Levittown, Pennsylvania.