A carefree child

Her loss emptied my heart

As I lay in bed, unable to throw

My legs over the edge, but soon

Enough, her blindness had

Opened my eyes and her stoicism

Had brought me courage.

==

She was like no other – and she

Was still with me, for I could feel

Her there – her golden tail,

Her whiskers and her ways.

==

One morning, with the sun shining brightly,

I sat up, and it ‘hit’ me – I could do this,

I should do this. If not I then who?

==

I drove – and drove – until we reached

Clybucca, when a dusty din

Hit the air as we stopped outside the farm.

The two-story house was by the roadside

And the horses were in the field behind the yard.

==

Then the choc labs raced toward us, two of them

More enthusiastic than the rest. “She has a

Hernia,” she said, and it was then I knew –

Her imperfection perfected her.

==

I held her in my arms, we signed the paperwork,

Put her in the car, rugged up safe and warm,

And smiled with the happiness of a carefree child.