Pets - Dogs, Cats, Rats, Fish
I guess you could call us animal lovers in the sense that both of us have always had pets. Tracey is a cat person and I am a dog person but that does not stop us loving the other. We all like horses but we don‘t have the room even for a pony, we do however give a little to a horse sanctuary to help look after old and mall treated horses. The kids have Rats and a cat so the house is never empty or quiet, whoever it was who said cats are silent hasn‘t heard ours.
The fish don‘t talk about the fish, there are more of them than the rest of us and they are breading.
Anyway, we found this little poem years ago, and I don‘ remember where it came from but it reminds me of the dog that saved my life, the dog I gave away because the neighbours would not stop tormenting him, the dog that Tracey had when I first met her and now the dog we have just lost - sleep well Bugs (Buster). Happy memories but sad.....
So get the tissues out for a poem by Admiral Courtney Anderson from a long time ago.
Parting
He is an old dog now, said the vet
Glancing surreptitiously at his watch, thinking of all the people and animals
In the waiting room - and the time the telly started ...
‘There's really nothing I can do for him. It would be kinder to put him down ...’
Brown, pain shadowed eyes watched us gravely,
Eyes that had laughed, made every coming home a celebration, shone with love.
Eyes that knew we talked about him and were sad ...
Tentative, a paw came up and I held it, pulling an ear in the special way he liked,
Thinking how many questing miles that paw had travelled to here -
the end of his road
On a tin table in a white tiled room
So far from that first, warm puppy basket, so finally bereft of walks, trees,
Grass, rabbits, bones and afternoon naps in the garden ...
Trusting, affectionate, patient, he watched the charged, beaded needle,
Looked up into my face with faith as the deft, quick fingers pushed it in ...
I drove home in my empty car. There was still mist on the glass
Where he had looked through the window and hairs, as always, on the upholstery.
Unfastened, unwanted, an empty collar lay by my side.
I saw the pointless green of unwalked fields. And I cried ...
With thanks and loving memories
Frank