Companionship in Strangeness

The street feels colder as I make my way home,

a stray dog beside me, not wanting to roam.

Its coat is all mud, but its eyes are so bright,

searching for warmth in the waning daylight.

It pauses with me, our breath mingling low,

a moment of understanding, two souls in the flow.

Not mine, yet it follows, this canine of dreams,

a shadow of longing, or so it seems.