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Last Day At The Vet's


I rub his muzzle,
stroke his belly's white patch.
Does he sense what's coming?

His eyes are moist.
Like many aging dogs,
his knees faltered first.

Anti-inflammatory drugs helped.
An eye fogged over.
Back legs began to buckle.

For months I carried him upstairs
laying him on my bed,
where we dreamed better days.

"Every heart wears out,"
the vet said. It had become
a knot of pain.

Now this.
The vet embraces me,
and goes over the procedure.

Then the difficult question:
"Do you want to be there?"
As the needle goes in,

I keep my eyes
on Sonny, stroking him
and with a gentle voice

reassuring him. I leave
with his collar, everything
--the walls, the table,

the years--a blur.
I give the receptionist
the leash.

Across the street dogs romp
in the park, where I settle
onto an empty bench.

Black and white dogs happily
bark like seals, unaware
of Sonny's absence.

Over and over I recall Sonny
fetching a tennis ball,
retrieving hundreds

of them over the years,
returning the love
he knew I'd never
toss away.

I had to stop reading. That's how powerful this is.

Thanks, Ken

It is a God-sent when someone writes, sings, paints or sculpts - creates - an entity that I need to experience, share in, or that is akin to an experience of my own that hasn't been held in the light for quite some time.

I definitely can relate to this humane event, not only with pets, but with other humans.

Separated but never severed.

(Separated) How long ago was this putting down? Some years, surely; but reads immediate, (but never severed).

Dogs that don't lie aren't dead.

Is it the human touch that creates for our pets their souls.

A dog was sent my way out of the blue darkness my senior year in college - another God-sent - that anima(l) was uber-attached & loyal to me - a dog possessed with its master.

Maybe it is time for me to tell the tail in a poem A Dog with No Name

Bob, I am Thankful you wrote & posted this poem here at the Writer's Block - and I hope it will be agreeable with you for it to represent us in the upcoming December IBPC.

Michael (MV) being optimistic it will be moved to be 1 of the 3.

Just occurred to me as a workshop-suggest for the title:

Leaving from the Vet's



Michael (MV)

Thanks, Michael