Crinkled slightly
With passing time
A small Me hugs a large dog
A bond exists
A bond existed

Then another, a larger boy
An older me
Another dog
Another bond
Another vulnerability

Now in colour
Paterfamilias, bonding
Pack leader, smugly
Signalling no weakness
Within this alpha Me

Digitised and sanitised
Cropped and colour-matched
Multiple Me
Now bereft of bonding
And balls

Sad records of
Multiple loves
That in hindsight
Might well have been
Entirely . . .

        . . . inappropriate.