poems for the loss of our babies, Forest Ostrander [good beach reads .TXT] 📗

mark.

She started sleeping next to me
Was this her special clue,
Because she felt the end was near
I only wish I knew.

My Candy was a special dog
I know she gave her best,
But as I looked deep into her eyes
I knew it was time, for her to rest.

It will truely be a struggle
I don't know how I'll face each day,
I have to let her go--I know
But in my heart she'll always stay.

This special place our Lord has made
Health and strength, wait for her there,
So with my very special friend
I'm sending all my prayers.

I know she's watching over me
She'll be with me when I cry,
So with one more kiss on her beloved head
I told my Candy Dog goodbye.

By Christina L. Tronnes for my beautiful Cocker Spaniel Candy.


The Creation

When God had made the earth and sky
the flowers and the trees,
He then made all the animals
the fish, the birds and bees.

And when at last He'd finished
not one was quite the same.
He said, "I'll walk this world of mine
and give each one a name."

And so He traveled far and wide
and everywhere He went,
a little creature followed Him
until it's strength was spent.

When all were named upon the earth
and in the sky and sea,
the little creature said, "Dear Lord,
there's not one left for me."

Kindly the Father said to him,
"I've left you to the end.
I've turned my own name back to front
and called you dog, My friend."

Author Unknown

The Dance

Looking back on the memory of
the dance we shared, beneath the stars above.
For a moment all the world was right,
how was I to know that you'd ever say good bye?
And now I'm glad I didn't know
the way it all would end, the way it all would go.
Our lives are better left to chance,
I could have missed the pain,
but I'd have had to miss the dance.
Holding you, I held everything,
for a moment, wasn't I the king?
If I'd only known how the king would fall
hey who's to say, you know I might have changed it all.
And now I'm glad I didn't know
the way it all would end, the way it all would go.
Our lives are better left to chance,
I could have missed the pain,
but I'd have had to miss the dance.

Tony Arata

The House Dog's Grave (Haig, an English bulldog)
I've changed my ways a little; I cannot now
Run with you in the evenings along the shore,
Except in a kind of dream; and you, if you dream a moment,
You see me there.

So leave awhile the paw-marks on the front door
Where I used to scratch to go out or in,
And you'd soon open; leave on the kitchen floor
The marks of my drinking-pan.

I cannot lie by your fire as I used to do
On the warm stone,
Nor at the foot of your bed; no, all the night through
I lie alone.

But your kind thought has laid me less than six feet
Outside your window where firelight so often plays,
And where you sit to read--and I fear often grieving for me--
Every night your lamplight lies on my place.

You, man and woman, live so long, it is hard
To think of you ever dying
A little dog would get tired, living so long.
I hope than when you are lying

Under the ground like me your lives will appear
As good and joyful as mine.
No, dear, that's too much hope: you are not so well cared for
As I have been.

And never have known the passionate undivided
Fidelities that I knew.
Your minds are perhaps too active, too many-sided. . . .
But to me you were true.

You were never masters, but friends. I was your friend.
I loved you well, and was loved. Deep love endures
To the end and far past the end. If this is my end,
I am not lonely. I am not afraid. I am still yours.


Robinson Jeffers, 1941


The Power of the Dog
There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie--
Perfect passsion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart to a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find--it's your own affair--
But ... you've given your heart to a dog to tear.


When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!)
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.


We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-term loan is as bad as a long--
So why in--Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?


Rudyard Kipling

Tribute To A Best Friend

Sunlight streams through window pane
unto a spot on the floor....
then I remember,
it's where you used to lie,
but now you are no more.
Our feet walk down a hall of carpet,
and muted echoes sound....
then I remember,
It's where your paws would joyously abound.
A voice is heard along the road,
and up beyond the hill,
then I remember it can't be yours....
your golden voice is still.
But I'll take that vacant spot of floor
and empty muted hall
and lay them with the absent voice
and unused dish along the wall.
I'll wrap these treasured memorials
in a blanket of my love
and keep them for my best friend
until we meet above.

Author Unknown

What do you do when a good friend dies?

What do you do when a good friend dies?
Do you lash out in anger and curse at the sky.
Or grasp hard denial, the means of the weak,
In an effort to kindle the comfort you seek.

What do you do when a good friend dies?
Once life's breath, so precious, gives the chest final rise.
In haste you take blame, no other at fault,
You kneel upturned earth and deem all happiness to halt.

What do you do when a good friend dies?
When with him the times, both good and bad, lie.
Do you cast aside the past, for memories hurt much too much,
Or struggle and fight for that last lingering touch.

What do you do when a good friend dies?
When all of the tears have all but been cried.
No matter how much, no matter how hard you try,
The only thing to do is say farewell.
Goodbye.


Copyright © Marc-David Cohn 1996

"Wishes" (for Okie)
We wish we could have told you,
in words you'd understand,
We wanted you to stay with us.
This wasn't what we'd planned.

We wish somehow to tell you,
How empty we now feel.
A part of us went with you,
A part that time can't heal.

We wish we'd once more hear you,
in your softly, rumbling purr,
to hold you on our laps again
and stroke your golden fur.

We wish we had you back again,
to fill this empty space.
But one day we'll be together
in a far, far better place.


To Okie with love, Kristen Sharer


Your Pets In Heaven
by Ken D. Conover

To have loved and then said farewell, is better than to have never loved at all.
For all of the times that you have stooped and touched my head, fed me my favorite treat and returned the love that I so unconditionally gave to you.
For the care that you gave to me so unselfishly.
For all of these things I am grateful and thankful.

I ask that you not grieve for the loss, but rejoice in the fact that we lived, loved and touched each others lives. My life was fuller because you were there, not as a master/owner, but as my FRIEND.

Today I am as I was in my youth. The grass is always green, butterflies flit among the flowers and the Sun shines gently down upon all of God's creatures.
I can run, jump, play and do all of the things that I did in my youth. There is no sickness, no aching joints and no regrets and no aging.

We await the arrival of our lifelong companions and know that togetherness is forever.
You live in our hearts as we do in yours. Companions such as you are so rare and unique.
Don't hold the love that you have within yourself. Give it to another like me and then I will live forever. For love never really dies, and you are loved and missed as surely as we are.

Your Pets In Heaven

A Note to All our Friend(s) who wait at Rainbow Bridge
------------------------------------------------------

Time has past since that dreadful day
when the Lord decided to take you away
The emptiness still lingers from time to time
but when I think about you I know I'll be fine

You were more than just pets
you were our best friends
Faithful companions
from beginning to end

With your friendly bark and wagging tail
you never showed if you ailed
Running and playing morning to night
never a mean growl or a bite

We wish you were still here right by our side
but you'll always be with us deep down inside
We gave you a home and you gave us your heart
there is no way we will ever part

The love that you showed us we'll never forget
We'll love you forever; You are our Pets


John Quealy

GOODBYE
-------

With heavy hearts; and a tear in our eyes
after all these years; we must say goodbye
Please understand; we've done all we could
if there was anything we could do; you know