As I am not very good with words I thought I would share these words from someone who WAS very good with them. When I first read this poem a long while ago tears came to my eyes.

I would like to dedicate this to all your little and not so little, (Copper, Shep, Hrudy etc) babies that have passed away. E.M



TRIBUTE


TO THE MEMORY OF A DOG


Lie here, without a record of thy worth,
Beneath a covering of the common earth!
It is not from unwillingness to praise,
Or want of love, that here no Stone we raise;
More thou deserv'st; but this Man gives to Man,
Brother to Brother, this is all we can.
Yet they to whom thy virtues made thee dear
Shall find thee through all changes of the year:
This Oak points out thy grave; the silent Tree
Will gladly stand a monument of thee,
I greived for thee, and wishes thy end were past;
And willingly have laid thee here at last:
For thou hadst lived till every thing that cheers
In thee had yielded to the weight of years;
Extreme old age had wasted thee away,
And left thee but a glimmering of the day;
Thy ears were deaf, and feeble were thy knees,-
I saw thee stagger in the summer breeze,
Too weak to stand against its sportive breath,
And ready for the gentlest stroke of death.
It came, and we were glad; yet tears were shed;
Both Man and Woman wept when Thou wert dead;
Not only for a thousand thoughts that were,
Old household thoughts, in which thou hadst thy share;
But for some precious boons vouchsafed to thee,
Found scarcely any where in like degree!
For love, that comes to all - the holy sense,
Best gift of God - in thee was most intense:
A chain of heart, a feeling of the mind,
A tender sympathy, which did thee bind
Not only to us Men, but to thy Kind:
Yea, for thy Fellow-brutes in thee we saw
The soul of Love, Love's intellectual law:-
Hence, if we wept, it was not done in shame;
Our tears from passion and from reason came,
And, therefore, shalt thou be an honoured name!

By


WORDSWORTH

Oh....that took my breath away....(and could just as easily be applied to cats, which I will do!). Thank God for the great poets of the world, who CAN express so beautifully what all our hearts (here, anyway) feel. And yes, it made me cry, too. Obviously the greatest poets also had the softest hearts, like us. Thanks for posting this one, E.M.

E.M.,thank you for sharing those beautiful words with all of us.They could be applied to cats just the same (and I will do that) I hope you are starting to feel better since the passing of Denis.I will never forget your story about him and the bacon stealing......so so funny.I know in my heart that he's at the rainbow bridge hanging out with all the other furbabies and they are having such a grand time.On the other side there is no concept of time so we will be with them before you know it.He'll be waiting for you and so will all of the others.Thanks again for sahring the poem,it is beautifully written and it touched my heart so much.My thoughts and prayers are still with you and I hope things will get better for you soon.Keep in touch and let us know how your doing.We care about you and want you to know your not alone.Sincerely,Renee (Sox' mom)

E.M - thank you very much for that poem and for thinking of Shep along with Copper & Hrudey etc. The words are beautiful and the sentiment exact.Thank you.

Debbie
Sheps mama

Hi EM, I have been absent for awhile....I just read this poem....thanks for sharing what a wonderful writing, so powerful and so true, and yes, it could be applied to any pet friend or any sort...absolutely, I would love to share that with my sister an amazing animal lover as well, who has lost three of hers in the past three years. Thanks again, Tory, Hrudey's Momma

Very beautiful and touching poem. Thank you for sharing it with us.