In some faithful heart, are your memories enshrined?

[lizblackdog]

Praise of a Collie

She was a small dog, neat and fluid -
even her conversation was tiny;
she greeted you with bow, never bow-wow

Her sons stood monumentally over her
but did what she told them. Each grew grizzled
till it seemed he was his own mother's grandfather.

Once, gathering sheep on a showery day,
I remarked how dry she was. Pollochan said, 'Ah,
It would take a very accurate drop to hit Lassie.'

She sailed in the dinghy like a proper sea dog.
Where's a burn? - she's first on the other side.
She flowed through fences like a piece of black wind.

But suddenly she was old and sick and crippled...
I grieved for Pollochan when he took her a stroll
And put his gun to the back of her head.

- Norman MacCaig

Comments

[beebarf.livejournal.com]

I think that's a lovely love poem to a dog, even to the end.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Isn't it? I wish I could do something like that.

*sigh*

sometimes I think it takes a special kind of masochism to fall so hard for someone with one-sixth of a human lifespan - and not only that, but to do it again, and again, and again...

[beebarf.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it - a piggie's average life span is about 5 years :o(

Then again, I know that it's not quantity, it's quality of life that matters, and I suppose by being short lived it means I can offer that sort of life to a larger number of animals - all decidley individual personalities, and they all bring joy!

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

that's why we keep on doing it, of course :)

[beebarf.livejournal.com]

That and the fact we have the word "sucker" tattooed across out foreheads... LOL

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Oh, well, that part goes without saying!

[myrystyr.livejournal.com]

on a gaming list recently, that was given as a reason why half-elves would be rare - 'realistically' what elf is going to keep falling for short-lived humans? ;)

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Realistically - I'd think there'd always be a sizable minority who'd do it again and again. People who live their lives fast must seem so exciting and vibrant to people who normally take the slow path...

[myrystyr.livejournal.com]

good point :)