Yesterday, a little Australian Kelpie half a world away left this world for the next one, and I cried many tears for a dog I'd never even met.

He belonged to a friend, someone I've come to cherish through our shared love of dogs, photography and the rocky landscape of the Canadian Shield. I understand her pain and feel it along with her because I've been there before, too many times, and losing a dog is akin to having a piece of your heart physically ripped from your body, because they are indissociably a part of who we are and how we live, even when they leave us behind to grieve. I've painted a couple of portraits of Rusty, so I feel like I know him, how every hair lies, how his eyes sparkle and how his ears point alertly to the sky. I can't use the past tense just yet. So today I spent some time with my pastels and tried in vain to bring him to life again. How I wish I could have done that.

These song lyrics came to mind. I hope that Rusty and his tennis ball have found some fields of gold.

You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley

You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky as we walk in fields of gold

So she took her love for to gaze awhile upon the fields of barley

In his arms she fell as her hair came down among the fields of gold

Will you stay with me, will you be my love among the fields of barley?

We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky as we lie in fields of gold

See the west wind move like a lover so upon the fields of barley.

Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth among the fields of gold

I never made promises lightly and there have been some that I've broken

But I swear in the days still left we'll walk in fields of gold

We'll walk in fields of gold

Many years have passed since those summer days among the fields of barley

See the children run as the sun goes down among the fields of gold

You'll remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley

You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold

When we walked in fields of gold, when we walked in fields of gold