I’m so sorry for your losses, for Pepino and all the others.

I came across this quote when my world was falling apart. It lead me to my dog in a round about way and my dog saved my life, in a round about way.

I pass it on now in the hope that it will be a healing salve – with love, ab
“We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan.”

Irving Townsend
‘The Once Again Prince’

Epitaph to a Dog

Near this Spot
are deposited the Remains of one
who possessed Beauty without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferosity,
and all the virtues of Man without his Vices.

This praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery
if inscribed over human Ashes,
is but a just tribute to the Memory of
BOATSWAIN, a DOG,
who was born in Newfoundland May 1803
and died at Newstead Nov. 18, 1808.

When some proud Son of Man returns to Earth,
Unknown by Glory, but upheld by Birth,
The sculptor’s art exhausts the pomp of woe,
And storied urns record who rests below.
When all is done, upon the Tomb is seen,
Not what he was, but what he should have been.
But the poor Dog, in life the firmest friend,
The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
Whose honest heart is still his Master’s own,
Who labors, fights, lives, breathes for him alone,
Unhonored falls, unnoticed all his worth,
Denied in heaven the Soul he held on earth –
While man, vain insect! hopes to be forgiven,
And claims himself a sole exclusive heaven.

Oh man! thou feeble tenant of an hour,
Debased by slavery, or corrupt by power –
Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust,
Degraded mass of animated dust!
Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat,
Thy smiles hypocrisy, thy words deceit!
By nature vile, ennoble but by name,
Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame.
Ye, who perchance behold this simple urn,
Pass on – it honors none you wish to mourn.
To mark a friend’s remains these stones arise;
I never knew but one – and here he lies.

–Lord Byron

I wanted to write more ‘update,’ but managed to spend two hours just writing what you’ll find below and at lead atop. I kept having to stop… I’ve an odd exhaustion; not sleepiness; but like a tiredness of The Ages. I hope I can write a bit more about Pepino and the family and how it all went, but not now. Everytime I think of how it all went, it’s the memories of the tiniest looks, gestures, sounds and words that wring my heart flat.

I am going to try to write about some other things in the next few days. Joe has been asking me to write something political for the new blog-tie-in TMV has now. So, I will turn to that and see…

But most of all, thank you. The electronic world is an odd world, though sometimes there are cutpurses that spring out and harsh-shimmlers just looking to kick someone’s shins… also sudden roads rise up and people stream over and stand together… it all happens so unexpectedly. Thank you for being a fellow traveler on this road at this time, readers and commenters, all. It matters. I hope, to all of us. Siempre.

Dr.e

December 24, 2007, After Dark in the Rockies, the Full Moon, Mars Shining Bright, 15″ of Snow…
posted for The Moderate Voice

UPDATE: IT IS DONE…

PEPINO

Big Boy Dalmation, Guardian of the Family

Born 1994, Died December 24, 2007

Go well dear, dear, loyal old friend. Thank you for showing us, we who are far more frail, what bold unconditional love a soul can truly give to others while on earth.

And, don’t rest in peace, Pepino. Run in happiness. Strong again and to your heart’s content. There is a little boy in heaven just waiting for you, and all our mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers have just now come to heaven’s gate to meet you.

Let our tears be the river that takes you there Pepino.

When the time is right he’ll follow the sway and the scent of his new romantic prey through the dream portal and balls swingin’ he will pass on and through…painlessly.

and yes, may everyone everywhere find in the darkest of times the prayer you’ve offered for us to to cling to/lean on….Amen.

This story hits so very, very close to home. We had hoped that Roo (The name? Think of a puppy I can largely hold in one hand that tries really hard to run after the other dog but it just always comes out as her hopping along.), our toy fox terrier, would make it throught the holidays. We hoped that the chemotherapy drug we were giving her would make her last long enough to make it through one more holiday season with us. But last weekend we knew she wasn’t really a happy little dog any more because of the cancer that had grown to be just too much for her rotund little body and the pain wasn’t helped enough by the medications we could get her to take. We picked her up and held her and cried and gratefully accepted her weak kisses as we took her on her last trip to the dreaded doggy doctor. I have her picture above my computer monitor at work and will leave it there until I have my digital picture frame there with pictures of her and the rest of our small horde of canine and feline “kids”.

I freely admit our entire household loves our animals that much and it still hurts to think she’s not in her little bed behind me as I type. But at the same time I smile a little as I picture her there or doing her little dances. But we give them good homes and lots of love so the pain at these times are the price for a great deal of love and enjoyment.

A new story of “How To Be An Elder,” has just been written and I think it will become a classic…

Thank you and Merry Christmas.

Steve Krome

I always grieve my pets more than people.