My Softest Friend

She enters the room panting quite loud
and peaks around the desk with hopeful eyes and perked ears.
Her soft, pink tongue lolling out to the left
making her look ever the more comical.
I smile at her presence and call out her name,
the second my voice reaches her ears
she comes bounding towards me in a spurt of  pure ecstasy.
Happy for a break from my work
I plop onto the ground and scratch her ear in just the right spot
so that her back leg twitches with pleasure.
I kiss her big wet nose and she returns the favor
with a much sloppier kiss
I gaze into her soft copper eyes and she stares back
that gentle face, engraved onto my heart throughout the years
so pleased to have gotten my attention.
I run my hands through her warm, golden fur petting her neck
as she sits back, begging me to continue every time I pause.
I stand up to get her a treat and she gets up too,
though for her this has become quite the chore,
she’s grown so old in what feel’s like the short time she’s been here,
her face has turned from bright gold and brown
to a more graceful and softer white
it’s as if with every strand of fur turned white
I grew fonder of her,
and she of me.
She gingerly raises herself up off the floor
and like the friend she is follows close at my heels.
Her tail wags in rapture as she sees where I am heading,
I reach down and give her a treat then watch as she inhales it.
How I’ve grown to adore this big mass of lovable fur
who’s simple desire is but to make me happy.
Yet I fear the day, though I know it’s soon
when she will be gone for good,
but I know in my heart she will always be here
sleeping on the couch cushion beside me.