A Spade stands ready Picked
My first poem here, one I’ve just finished, so still may have some tinkering. Bobby is our second springer; much loved, and still hanging in there, but he’s only heading one way: to the where mystery will be.
Main text of your writing.
A spade stands ready.
A spade stands – now ready beside the shed;
It’s cold January, and he’s not yet dead.
He may be lost, he may have forgotten,
what a dog should do – he’s not forsaken;
though his mind is aslant he’s always ours;
so, we shall watch and mind him in the hours,
and will now give him his longest day’s rest,
for he’s always given his very best.
He’ll soon pass on, and after all is said,
the spade stands – now ready beside the shed.
(Bobby, Springer Spaniel – brain tumour)
D G Moody
Brilliant title to start with. This captures the dark cold reality like the steel of the spade. No flowery overtones, just the cruel realisation of trying to prepare for the inevitable. so, we watch and mind him in the hours, and now let him have his long days rest; Boy, does this hit home. I am in the process of tending to my elderly cat ‘in the hours’…he’s just had 4 teeth out and is under the weather. I know I will have to face it sometime but he’s been with me these last traumatic 18 years in my walk… Read more »
Thanks Alison,
The irony is – he seems to be doing pretty well at present, but my wife is more realistic – being a retired nurse, and she’s the one who administers the medication. But yes, pets do get under our guard – and being a comminglingly old ‘barsteward’ it helps to make me a better person.
I am also a retired nurse although latterly into alternative healing.
As the saying goes “Oh Lord, please transform me into the person my dog believes me to be”
Animals are such a blessing and teach us unconditional love. The knowledge of that,can hurt the heart.
Alison x
Someone I love dearly is facing this now and it’s so hard. That watching and waiting to do the right thing for him – you’ve captured it perfectly here.
Thanks for the comment gee; and I loved the Kipling quote. Not a writer held in esteem these days, but (a bit like Dickens), when he describes something, it is then nailed for eternity!
BTW. I’ve edited the poem, after very welcome feedback from Luigi. It is now in strict rhyming couplets, with ten syllable lines; I have retained ‘aslant’, as to me this is the key word.
Dougie