The dog’s name was Conviction
which was really fucking weird.

She made me feel guilty
whenever I saw her at the run
because I kept staring at her owner
in ways that elicited shame.

I was convinced it was obvious
but since I never was called out on it,
I thought maybe I was safe
until I realized that maybe I was so obvious
that both the dog and owner just tried to avoid my errant eye so much
that it never seemed like they noticed anything I did.

So I was never caught for my constant gawking
but the guilt never left me, anyway.

I stopped going to the dog run after a while
at least until I can get a dog
or something that looks like one.