Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Old Dogs (Bill Staines)


For my dear friend Melanie, who only yesterday lost her beloved dog Xena... <3

SONG: Old Dogs by Bill Staines

BOOK: Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant

POEM: I Ask Percy How I Should Live My Life by Mary Oliver
(Percy being her dog)

Love, love, love, says Percy.
And hurry as fast as you can
along the shining beach, or the rubble, or the dust.

Then, go to sleep.
Give up your body heat, your beating heart.
Then, trust.

QUOTE: "You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us." ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

4 comments:

  1. we lost our Patch, age 19, a month ago...I still jump up each morning thinking I need to take him outside....

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  2. Hey, Catherine ~

    Oh, I am so sorry to hear of Patch's passing - how lucky you were to have him 19 years! (was he a specific breed... or a Heinz57?)...

    Our dear Rocky (a Shih-Tzu) is 14 1/2... and has gotten progressively more slow, deaf and blind... sleeping for much of the day - as I told Mel, I'm trying to straddle that fine line between enjoying each moment with him (he still loves his daily walk!)... and being prepared for when his time comes...

    Just thinking about it is upsetting - I can't imagine my life without him...

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  3. Patch was a bird dog (English Setter - champion blood line etc.) - he belonged to a neighbor who was a hunter. Unfortunately Patch didn't like guns and the hunter threatened to shoot him so we took him @ 6months old. My husband had never had a dog before - losing Patch has been even harder on him.

    Your sweet Rocky sounds like our Patch - enjoy each day with him.

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  4. Hey, Catherine ~

    Very similar paths for us... in that we'd never had a dog... and I continued to assure my children that we never would - that was before we met Rocky and fell in love instantly... and now we can't remember a time when we didn't have him... :-)

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