I'm really sorry about your cat, Del. I have loved cats since I was a tiny baby and had a beautiful long-haired black one named Raven, and hearing about yours made me start crying and now I can't stop. I keep thinking about Red Kitten, the one we buried in the forest near our house after a car hit him--how he lived for a couple of hours with his back broken, panicking because he couldn't walk even though he kept trying to get up--and about how my ten-year-old cat Lizzie is starting to act like an old-lady cat, not quite as spry as she was when she was a kitten, even though she still wants to be frisky and playful, and I can see her aging and see myself doing the same thing at the same time, and it is all just very sad, emotions all swirling and mixed up.
I know you don't usually like poetry very much, but this one seems appropriate and I hope you don't mind my putting it here:
IF I SHOULD GROW FRAIL
If it should be that I grow frail and weak
And pain does keep me from my sleep,
Then will you do what must be done
for this - the last battle -can't be won.
You will be sad I understand
But don't let grief then stay your hand.
For on this day, more than the rest
Your love and friendship must stand the test.
We have had so many happy years,
You wouldn't want me to suffer so.
When the time comes, please, let me go.
Take me to where my needs they'll tend,
Only, stay with me till the end.
And hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see.
I know in time you will agree
It is a kindness you do to me.
Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffering I have been saved.
Don't grieve that it must now 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.
(author unknown) |
