Unmatched Affection

I don’t understand why he fills my thoughts
With memories of barking, smiling joy,
His heart about to stop, his neck outstretched,
His final breath a yowl of pain, then death.
So where’s he now, just ashes on a shelf?
It’s hard believing prints alone are left,
His energetic spirit’s gone for good.
I think of him always rolling in grass,
The summer sun above, forever bright,
Another time and place, and still alive.
Is that enough to know the past exists,
A flow of time, a continuum rewound?
I wish his presence near me, warm and soft.
Like flowers growing out towards the light,
Unmatched affection reaches back to night.