RAINBOW BRIDGEPAGE 2
RAINBOW BRIDGE
If it should be that I grow frail and weak
And pain should keep me from my sleep
Then you must do what must be done
For this, the last battle, can't be won.
You will be sad - I understand
Don't let your grief then stay your hand
For this day, more than all the rest
Your love and friendship stand the test.
We've had so many happy years
What is to come can hold no fears
You'd not want me to suffer, so
When the time comes, please let me go.
I know in time you too will see
It is a kindness you do to me
Although my tail its last has waved
From pain and suffering I've been saved.
Don't grieve that it should be you
Who has to decide this thing to do
We've been so close, we two these years
Don't let your heart hold any tears.
If you ever love an animal, there are three days in your life
The first is a day, blessed with happiness, when you bring home
AMINDA
your young new friend.
You may have spent weeks deciding on a breed. You may have asked
numerous opinions of many vets, or done long research
Or, perhaps in a fleeting moment, you may have just
chosen that silly looking mutt in a shelter - simply because
something in its eyes reached your heart.
But when you bring that chosen pet home, and watch it explore,
and claim its special place in your hall or front room -
and when you feel it brush against you for the first time - it instills
a feeling of pure love you will carry with you through the
many years to come.
The second day will occur eight or nine or ten years later.
It will be a day like any other. Routine and unexceptional.
But, for a surprising instant, you will look at your longtime friend
and see age where you once saw youth.
You will see slow deliberate steps where you once saw energy.
And you will see sleep where you once saw activity.
So you will begin to adjust your friend's diet - and you may
add a pill or two to her food
And you may feel a growing fear deep within yourself,
which bodes of a coming emptiness.
And you will feel this uneasy feeling, on and off, until the third
day finally arrives.
And on this day - if your friend and God have not
decided for you,
then you will be faced with making a decision of your own -
on behalf of your lifelong friend, and with the guidance of your
own deepest Spirit.
But, whichever way your friend eventually leaves you -
you will feel as alone as a single star in the night.
If you are wise, you will let the tears flow as freely and as often
as they must. And if you are typical, you
will find that not many in your circle
of family or friends will be able to understand
your grief, or comfort you.
BRANDY 17 YEARS
But if you are true to the love of the pet you cherished through the
many joy-filled years, you may find that a soul -
a bit smaller in size than your own - seems to walk with you,
at times, during the lonely days to come.
The memory will most likely be painful, and leave an ache
in your heart.
As time passes, the ache will come and go as if it has a life
of its own.
You will both reject it and embrace it, and it may confuse you.
If you reject it, it will depress you.
If you embrace it, it will deepen you.
Either way, it will still be an ache
But there will be, I assure you, a fourth day when -
along with the memory of your pet -
and piercing through the heaviness in your heart -
there will come a realization that belongs only to you.
It will be as unique and strong as our relationship with each animal
we have loved, and lost.
heavenly scent of a rose that remains after the petals have wilted,
this Love will remain and grow -
and be there for us to remember.
It is a love we have earned.
It is the legacy our pets leave us when they go.
And it is a gift we may
keep with us as long as we live.
It is a Love which is ours alone.
And until we ourselves leave, perhaps to join our Beloved Pets -
it is a Love we will always possess.
