When we first met your eyes shone through the layers of earth and grass that sheltered the ragged fur beneath. The scent of the wild followed your footsteps and stuck to the tiles, and though your walk held a wary edge your poise shook with obedience. You frolicked at my feet and dug your nose into my palms, and while I’d sworn to never take a dog I fell in love within the hour.

From the start you sealed our bond with fervent affection, standing on hind paws to smother my nose with kisses or pleading at my feet for a belly rub. They said that you might be a burden; that you were lost and tattered and prone to bouts of anger from all you had endured. They told me to be careful – to keep from being attached – and to let you go as brusquely as you had arrived if need arose.

But one look into your face told me how wrong they were. You were more than just a threadbare hound wandering the woods, but starved for love and more than willing to give back. Beneath that layer of mud and earth and bits of grass you bloomed with unexpected radiance. Your coat spoke of sunlight-wheat and the secrets that came with running through tall grass, and I wondered at the depths that swam through those limpid eyes.

Perhaps you were troubled, and time was of the essence to pacify those wounds. You weren’t used to the confinements of the house, and I soon learned the task of getting up in the earliest of hours to dilute your hurts. Often I would find you pressed against the backdoor, your ears flattened and your teeth bared as your hidden thoughts merged with the sounds of nighttime. I would sit by you on such occasions, smoothing the fur along your neck and murmuring words I might tell a child, and I could swear you understood.

We would stay together until the end of those nightmares, when you could find it in yourself to battle away the troubles and return to your frolics for kisses. You were my child then – the pup who mirrored the sun in his fur and in his spirit – and I brimmed with indescribable joy to follow your careless runs through the fields. You welcomed my presence wholeheartedly, bounding to beat the wind during our games of fetch, and I brimmed with your acceptance.

It came to the point where I could no longer stand to leave you – and you gave me a hard time about the hours I spent away from home and from our play. You’d pout at me a while before your good nature took over, and you greeted me as though I had been gone for years instead of a day spent at work or at a meeting. You loved going along on trips, and each time we made it an adventure. Whether on a daily walk through the woods or a full-out excursion, you had a passion for life and all it had to offer.

Although your heart favored our fields, the sea was a close competitor. You were edgy the first time we visited, marveling at the sand that slid so effortlessly through your paws and avoiding the water altogether. But it wasn’t long before you were gliding down the coastline to chase the gulls and bark at the waves, your voice rising in the ecstasy of your excitement. I couldn’t help but laugh at your antics; at the way you tackled me to flounder in the sand and gather in your coat the power of the sea. The smell of salt and wind and the rocky fissures you so coveted lingered on you for weeks after.

You grew before my eyes too quickly and lit the world around you. Your brilliance followed you throughout all seasons, and you basked in your own glory. You were a prideful dog – always the winner of our games of fetch and hide-and-seek – but none too dignified to stand by in times of distress. You would sit by me on sleepless nights or curl at my feet – ears perked up to listen to my troubles and my laments – and together we listened to the sounds of darkness and waited for the world to clear.

But where now the zealous hound who wore the spring so well?

Your coat had faded to the sheen of straw in winter shadow the last time we visited the sea. Although your body quivered with anticipation of a good hunt your legs were too frail to pursue the perching gulls, and you soon gave in to gazing over the water or following my slow footsteps over the sand. Your eyes spoke to me as before, and in them I witnessed our summer fields and the child-pup glowing with the sunset. Your spirit capered with youth despite the toll expelled on your body. Time has been unfair, you told me, and I smoothed back your coat as I had done so many years since we had first met.

This would be our last time on the shores together, but I knew that you could run by the water and explore the beach again. I promised you that. In my mind you would always be the wild child who came from the forest, who conquered the night and reigned in the dawn of first sun. Until we found one another again I would always picture you running – running with the tall flowers raking your fur and another endless day in the distance.

There we could play once more while the meadows slept and the air told of the sea. Where both our hearts belonged.