I brought Rocky his apple today, in the early afternoon sun. When I first used to pull into the driveway, Rocky would run and hide behind his barn. Now, even before I get out of the car, he comes running the fence closest to the car engine. I climb into the pasture – Rocky is known to have nipped a few people, but I have not seen that. And I speak to him, so he can locate me, as he is blind and more than 30 years old.

I sometimes speak to him in stories or poems, as today:

“Rocky, it’s Jon, and I’m here again.

I’ve come to bring you our apple,

and say hello.

You seem very content in your pasture, running from the grain pan

to the stream and to the fresh hay you get every day,

it is always nice to see you here. You teach me acceptance.”

And usually, by this time, Rocky has located me, his nose and head

out and I let him touch the apple and then drop it on the ground

below his head, and he puts his nose down, finds it

and breaks it into two or three pieces, and then chews it carefully.

And then he runs off.