Time spent with our pet’s seems as fleeting as the life of a butterfly.
I read about Neil Gaiman and his dog in The Scoop in The Dogster. Gaiman wrote about his dog in his personal blog on Tumblr. A touching story of how he rescued his beautiful pet from the side of the highway.
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2013/01 Niel Gaiman’s story about his dog”>
The Power of a Dog”
There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
But when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and sisters I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie–
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years that nature permits
Are closing in asthma or tumors or fits
And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers, or loaded guns.
Then you will find–its your own affair
But–you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear.
When the body that lived at your single will
When the whimper of welcome is stilled (how still!)
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone–wherever it goes–for good,
You still discover how much you care
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.
We’ve sorrow enough in the natural way
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we’ve kept ‘em the more do we grieve;
For when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short time loan is as bad as a long–
So why in Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?
Poem by Rudyard Kipling
Post and photograph Yvonne
So, Tim tells me last night he thinks it is time for me to get a new pup. It has been only 8 months since my heart was most torn by the sudden loss of my young dog…perhaps I should have him read this.
I posted a new poem re:death of a pet and his preposed will. It might make you cry but a new pet will help you, Mary. I thought i would never get WP to work right since I put a photo with it.
Hello Yvonne, have you seen that you have a traductor now on my blog???
have a nice week
No, I had not noticed. I must go back when I finish with the comments and my replies. Thank you.
I found ot but I had to type in one post in the search box. I had a hard time to get it to work. But I typed in the moth and that was all that I got to work. I will need to try again.
Beautiful post. Thank you so much for your nice comment on my last posting, Catordog!
We have a much loved rescued dog who was abandoned in a horrible way. Even as I read the poem, I paused several times and reached down to stroke Maggie’s head.
Marylin, when I imitially read one of your blogs about your mother, I just knew that you are a kind person. In my opinion most kind individuals, as a rule, like animals and most of those people have a pet if at all possible. So it makes me very happy to know that you have a rescue and have given her a home. I have written in some replies to various commenters that an abandoned, abused, or a shelter dog that seems to be eternally grateful to the adopter. They seem to make such wonderful pets. I can’t quite put it into words but I have found that to be true with my own pets that I have rescued from certain death. I am so glad that you gave Maggie a home. And I know that you really, really are glad that you have Maggie as your pet. Thank you for commenting.
Regards,
Yvonne
I had never had a dog until I got married. Wife and dog came as a package. Mui Chu was 16 when she died and I had the sadness of being with her when the vet helped her to achieve peace. My wife had sat up with her for two nights comforting her before we determined she was too ill to help further. I had never imagined I could be so attached to an animal. I like Kipling and this touched the spot. Thanks Yvonne.
Well I just lost 2 long paragraphs by hitting the return key too hard.
I can see how you easily became attached to your wife’s dog. Kind and gentle people become attached to a pet. It is so easy to do. About Neil Gaiman. He is a British writer that found his dog that he named Cabal. I learned of the story by reading an article in The Dogster. I clicked on the link and it took me to Tumblr where Gaiman has a blog. He wrote about the passing of his dog and had also posted a photo. It is a photo that is etched in my mind. It is that good. The dog is beautiful and is looking directly into Gaiman’s eyes. I could not get my computer to highlight the link but if you look at these comments- find the one from Shoreacres. She sent me the link thinking that I could transfer it over to the blog but it just still would not work. However, it will work in her comment to me. (shoreacres).
One more thing that you mentioned was Kipling. I had not idea that he had written an entire poem that was a reference to his dog’s passing. He is a fine poet and now I have a new appreciation for Kipling.
Now, I believe that you went back on your word of not having time to read posts that were made while you were gone. But I am happy that you looked in on mine. I have not posted much of late. Too depressed about the messed up blog and other matters. I have been photographing a bit but nothing that is much of anything.
Take care, Andrew
Best regards,
Yvonne
We read their story. It was so wonderful and yet so sad. My husband and son read it with me. Thank you so much for sharing.
I am so glad that the entire family read about Cabal and Neil Gaiman. The story made me cry. Thank you for commenting, Marie.
I’m all sorts of teary reading this. We lost our sweet puppy Nilla Bean last October.
There is a passage by Gene Hill along the same vein at the end of this post:
http://mylittlespacebook.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/this-week-on-the-farm-heartache/
Well I took a quick look back at Yahoo mail and it is working for now. I suppose I am still going to call Costco and see about scanning for viruses again. I still have other comments that I have no idea if I saw them or if my replies to the comments went through or not. Hold tight and I intend to get back to you.I put the poem in a draft that I will save adn post at some pointl. Thank you cery much. I am so sorry that you you lost a dear pet that was a part of your family. It is the pits. I don’t know if I have any other words for pet loss. Your dog was quite young. I won’t ask what caused her death.If you had wanted that known I think you would have written it as part of the post.
Reagards,
Yvonne
This is one of the most beautiful poems ever and one the most beautiful lines, “…Our loves are not given, but only lent…” You would have to have a hard heart not to get at least a bit teary-eyed at reading it. And that Neil Gaiman post is gut-wrenching! Again, beautiful and sad.
Your photo is gorgeous! I’m a huge macro photography fan. It takes a great deal of patience, but completely worth it as it gives you a most incredible view of nature.
Lovely post!
Thank you for taking the time to read and to write such a nice comment. I can’t take full credit. I read about Gaiman on The Dogster blog in The Scoop story part. The first paragraph of Kipling’s poem was a part of the story if I am recalling correctly. So I went to “Sir Google” and typed in Kipling’s memorial poem about his dog or something like that. I was very pleased to discover that he had written an entire poem. It was written to honor his dog that had died. Now I have a new appreciation for Kipling and now I know about Gaiman who is British. I don’t know if he found the dog in the U.S. or Great Britian. I was reading very fast so I might have missed some important points. The one thing that grabbed my sentiments was the photograph of Gaiman with his dog. I can not forget the look of love of his dog gazing into Gaiman’s eyes. It caused me to cry as I put the little post together. I returned to the photo numerous times and I now have that spot marked as a favorite. I suppose it will remain in his blog in Tumblr. Gaiman wrote the story with so much love. I am certain that is was extremely difficult for him to write about his beloved Cabal. Anyway that is how the idea for the post was born. Thank you again for stopping by and for liking and commenting.
Also the butterfly is not of the best quality. (the photo is ok, it just is not as good as I know it could be with a better lens- not camera but the lens part) I don’t have a prime lens for my camera. My dollars have been needed elsewhere so the macro prime lens is on hold for now. My lens is an 18mm-200 zoom kit lens (kit is not the same as a prime) which is of much higher quality but you most likely know that. A real macro gives a much sharper pic and I so long to have better qualtiy photos- but someday hopefully…
Beautiful poem, very emotional…
Thanks Calee, for the responding to the post with a nice comment. I appreciate you very much.
Grief is still so far for me. I prefer not to dwell on it. Luckily Ariel keeps me busy and I don’t have time to think about loss.
Oh Propero, I did not expect you to even look at this post. But it presented itself after I read about the writer, Neil Gaiman’s dog. I am sure you little butterfly will never be far from your heart. But you have learned to love another dog but that does nothing to diminish the love you had for Angie (I hope I remembered her name correctly).
Oh – I found the error in your link that didn’t work. I’ve done the same thing many times. You only need the http:// once – when you’re using the wordpress form, you have to be careful about that. If I copy and paste a link, I delete the first http:// from the box and start from scratch.
Well I did that and it still did not work. I am thinking of emailing you to see what I can do in the back door of this blog. But I am going to go back in the back to see what the heck I can fix on my own. Thank you ,Linda very much.
Gaiman is one of the best writers of our time, actually. I don’t follow him much, because he tends toward fantasy, young adult – just sorts of things I’ve never read. But after reading his post about his dog, I’m thinking I should give his other work at least a try. He did a beautiful job of communicating his feelings about the dog’s death and his pain at not being there.
The poem is wonderful, too. It’s not one I’ve come across – just lovely.
Linda, I had never heard of the man before I read about him in The Dogster which provided the link. The picture of him and his dog is priceless. Cabal the dog was looking into Gaiman’s eyes and the picture of itself made me cry. I agree with you that he wrote that very well given the fact that the death of his dog was still a raw memory. I think I’ll see what adult books he has and try to round some up through Abe or Amazon books- used ones.
Beautiful post.
Thank you for taking the time to comment. And, I am glad that you liked the post.
I am a total wuss. I couldn’t even bring myself to read the whole poem …
That is okay Sybil if you are a wuss. I am about certain things relating to a pet/s death. But I’ve had many pets in my lifetime and it is very, very difficult. At times I still cry about a pet that has been gone for years. The poem did not make me cry but the link to Neil Gaiman’s blog on Tumblr made me cry for he wrote about the dog he rescued. The dog died just recently and he really was attached to his beautiful dog. I don’t want to even think about some of mine going in a few years. It is going to be really difficult. Thanks for commenting.
Lovely thoughts and photograph. Dogs definitely get deep inside our hearts and the grief we feel over their death is very painful. But the pain only emphasizes the blessing we have received from their unconditional love and loyalty.
Who would not give their hearts to a dog to tear? Love has a cost, lack of love a much greater one.
Thanks Rod, for reading the post. If you will look for the comment from Lottie Nivens there is a link to Tumblr of Neil Gaiman’s story of how he found his dog and about his dog dying while he was away from home. The stroy made me cry. It is a well written story. Gaiman is a writer from Great Britian. You are right that love has a cost but to not love a dog or pet in one’s lifetime is to have missed a great deal. I could not go through life without my pets. Mine are lots of work but I derive a lot of pleasure and comfort from them.
What a beautiful poem Yvonne and now I have to dray my tears out. I love Rudyard Kipling but I only know poems in french translation. Beautiful butterfly!
have a nice day and thank for sharing
Thank you for reading the poem. There is a link in one of the comments (the comments on this post) from Lottie Nivens to Neil Gaiman’s site on Tumblr. He wrote about the dog he rescued 6 years ago and about the dogs recent death. His story cauded me to cry. I was not familiar with Gaiman’s work. e is A writer from Great Britian and it is wirth th eread.It isn’t very. The dog is one that he rescued. He write that the dog rescued him as much as he rescuded the dog. Very touching story.
Interesting poem, One of our dogs has epilepsy and we have come close several times to that one-way trip to the vets. It’s not the epilepsy but the after effects. He invariably ingests the froth that happens during the fit into his lungs. This in turn causes an infection which affects his breathing and only strong antibiotics will kill. But he’s managed to reach nine years and still chases cats, so we’ll keep him going as long as he’s still got quality of life…
I’m sorry that your dog has epilepsy. Is he not on medication for the seizures? If not maybe you need a better vet who can treat him more effectively. I hope for you and your dog that he lives much longer. There are some breeds of dogs that are prone to epilepsy and it is a sad situation that the genetics for epilepsy has not been reduced by improved selective breeding.
Thanks Mike, for taking time to read the post.
Beautiful thoughts ! Such feeling and truth in these words. It brought tears to my eyes thinking of my dear Mouchette, who died five years ago after 17 years of faithful and loving companionship. Thanks for sharing as well as for the lovely monarch butterfly’s picture.
Hello Isa. It’s good to get your comment. I’m glad you like the poem. I had not read previously read the poem before last evening. I didn’t know that Kipling liked dogs. Like you, I cried reading the poem. We never forget our wonderful pets, do we? Seventeen years is quite a long life for most dogs. You were very fortunate to have your dog live to such an old age.
Hope this works! http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2013/01/the-power-of-dog-cabal-2003-2013.html
Thanks Lottie. I copied it to the post but I could not get the link to work with a click. The link works from the comment that you sent, though.
What a beautiful poem – it did bring a lump to my throat. I’ll try to decipher the link and find Neil Gaiman’s story about his dog. Thanks Yvonne and I loved your photo too.
I replied to you in notifications and the reply did not transfer over. This blog or WP is a mess. Don’t know who to blame- myself or WP. I looked up Neil Gaiman in Google and learned that he is British. I am, sorry to say that I had no idea who he is. After reading his blog in Tumblr I believe he is a really nice person. He truly loved his dog Cabal. It’s to bad that his dog did not have a longer life.