In Memoria Canis
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By D G Moody
- 687 reads
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear
(Rudyard Kipling The Power of The Dog)
The spade stands ready beside the shed
a cold February and now he is dead.
He may have been ill and forgotten
what a dog should do but he was ours
and always gave of his very best so
we minded him and helped him along
to his long days rest and when all is said
the spade was ready beside the shed.
As I’m writing I look down to where on
his bed he lay curled under his blanket,
and he’s there, but also not still there as
it was only that morning when I carried
him out to the car for his last journey to
the vets, after we realised that he’d had
enough and now he could go to his rest.
That night he was with us in the house
and the next morning we dug his grave
when there were words to be said about
how much he had meant to us just for
being with us for those nine years and
the taken for granted familiarity of the
daily routines – the long dog walks and
the holidays we planned around him
And how long we could leave him when
we were out – becoming the third person
in our house, who one day upped and left
and it was as you said it was like stepping
off a cliff without any sense of a landing
then you got busy, with sorting his things
the little tokens of his life; and yes I know,
when millions are dying what is one dog?
And aren’t we all animals, stating into night;
our emotions cannot change what happens
when faced with extinction, but if we can
love a dog for just being a dog then maybe
it says something true about ourselves, that
we are also loved for just being human and
by giving some of our love to a dog we can
become loved by far more thereby.
I said I heard,
I thought I heard,
his feet upon the stairs;
but memory lied,
our dog had died,
i t could not have been
his feet upon the stairs.
© D G Moody 2024
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Comments
Love and warmth without the
Love and warmth without the complexities of human relationshiips and misunderstandings. And companionship on those walks. Do you have another now? Rhiannon
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Few loves are truer than
Few loves are truer than those we share with our animal companions. Touching words.
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I can't better onemore's
I can't better onemore's comment - a beautiful poem, thank you Dougie.
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So sorry for your loss. I
So sorry for your loss. I think my dog was only with me for 9 years, too. I think of him every day. Your dog must have been very happy with you, from what you say in your poem, and to make a life happy is a great thing
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A Beautiful tribute to your
A Beautiful tribute to your dog. Saying goodbye to animal friends is so hard. To have him buried close to you in the garden must bring you some comfort. Each of my pets have brought me something different and their endings have been different too but you always miss them.
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A pleasure to return to read
A pleasure to return to read this piece again this evening. It's our Pick of the Day. Do read and share on Facebook and Twitter.
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This made me think about Pablo Naruda's wonderful poem:
Un perro ha meurto.
I believe in a heaven I’ll never enter.
Yes, I believe in a heaven for all dogdom
where my dog waits for my arrival
waving his fan-like tail in friendship. (excerpt)
...... I also think about the day I will have to say goodbye to my girl.
lovely piece Dougy
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wonderful memories brought to
wonderful memories brought to life with a bit of a bite. I'm reading Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking. We absorb the past and it bleeds into our presences (woof).
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