A Time for Everything

Courtesy of Stacey L. Rhoades Photography

I share this as a tribute to my aging Maltese who turned fourteen this past June. Since I’ve been away, I had not seen him in five months. Articulating many experiences, observations and emotions helps me to love, while beginning to let go.

Recognizing the people who walk through decline with dear friends and family members for long periods of time, I trust this piece will not be offensive in it’s simplicity and focus. Your struggles far outweigh mine–they cannot be compared–and I salute you!

Rumination – Recollection

joyous reunion
after months and months apart
fur baby and I

baby no longer
unquestionably senior
definite decline

once vibrant and bright
years of laughter and delight
only a shadow

eyes dimmed, hearing lost
confusion a grim partner
painfully altered

conscious of hunger
though seems he’s forgotten how
to eat–when and where

barking at nothing
or a painting on the wall
or facing a door

wobbling and falling
hardly able to leap to
all best-loved perches

pert little head bopped
stumbling into furniture
startled without cause

oh sweet one, you were
once brilliantly clever
and quick as a dart–

no more.

all’s quiet and dark
in a lonely world of age
dependent and frail

what must it be like
to lose what for years defined
your little being

my tears flow at all
recollections of bygones
life’s harshness revealed

outwardly it seems
little remains, much is lost
but wait–that’s not so

one thing–quite unchanged
your faithfulness outlasts all
degeneration

your love expressed so
diff’rently–from a place of
complete reliance

your heart won’t falter
no, not ever, forever
cloaked in devotion

you quiet when held
gently, close to beating heart
patient in struggle

what’s lost from your youth
is not what makes you priceless
your heart will remain

the time will come for
us to bid bitter farewell
to one another

’til then dear faithful
I wish you small moments of
contentment and peace

this is my hope.