Creek Running North

ODDJOB, A BULL TERRIER

You prepare for one sorrow,
but another comes.
It is not like the weather,
you cannot brace yourself,
the unreadiness is all.
Your companion, the woman,
the friend next to you,
the child at your side,
and the dog,
we tremble for them,
we look seaward and muse
it will rain.
We shall get ready for rain;
you do not connect
the sunlight altering
the darkening oleanders
in the sea-garden,
the gold going out of the palms.
You do not connect this,
the fleck of the drizzle
on your flesh,
with the dog’s whimper,
the thunder doesn’t frighten,
the readiness is all;
what follows at your feet
is trying to tell you
the silence is all:
it is deeper than the readiness,
it is sea-deep,
earth-deep,
love-deep.

The silence
is stronger than thunder,
we are stricken dumb and deep
as the animals who never utter love
as we do, except
it becomes unutterable
and must be said,
in a whimper,
in tears,
in the drizzle that comes to our eyes
not uttering the loved thing’s name,
the silence of the dead,
the silence of the deepest buried love is
the one silence,
and whether we bear it for beast,
for child, for woman, or friend,
it is the one love, it is the same,
and it is blest
deepest by loss
it is blest, it is blest.

Derek Walcott

Good, good dog
Well loved, loving in return
Running forever, tongue lolling
Tail wagging.
Forever happy.

Peace to you.

The lifespan of dogs, one of God’s bigger mistakes. Your pain is over now, Zeke, bit the love lives on.

Chris and Becky, I’m so sorry to hear the news.

Thank you for sharing your and Zeke’s story with all of us. I wish there were something I could say or do to help.

best dog.

Hank Fox said it all.  Thanks for sharing your experience with the rest of us, Chris.  You are a rare human being.

Chris,

I’m so sorry.  What a great picture of Zeke!

Take good care of yourself and Becky.  I’m thinking of you.

Gentle journey Zeke.

We are so, so sorry Chris & Becky.  Zeke will always be a helluva dog.  We are so lucky to have met him even one time. 

All our love and wishes for peace to you both.
Jane & Nadine

Look at him. He’s free.

Sorry.  My cat, Wacky, is just about ready for the “long sleep” also.  After 20 years , it’s hard to say goodbye.

Bye, Zekey.  We love you.
Hugs for Chris and Becky.

“Well Zeke, I guess we found out where your stick got to.�

So Sorry for your loss Chris & Becky - what can be said except that this is the time in pet ownership that sucks, the dark flipside of the joy that you felt when you first got Zeke.

If only they could stay healthy & 2 years old forever!

My condolences

Blessed be the dogs and the people who love them.

Chris - I’m so sorry. Peace.

Sean

Oh, Zeke, you gorgeous boy, rest in peace. Chris, Becky, I am so so sorry.

I’m sorry, Chris.  Best to you and yours.

I’m sorry for your loss, Chris. His was a beautiful spirit.

Deepest sympathy, Chris.

I just closed the cover, finishing Susan Jacoby’s Freethinkers, which ends with the eulogy that Robert Ingersoll gave for Walt Whitman, and opened my computer to learn this sad news.  What a strange and melancholy moment.  But somehow though I only met Zeke through your photos and writing, it seems to fit.

I’m keeping you in my thoughts: Zeke, Chris, and Becky.

Thank you so much for sharing Zeke with us.

Sorry, Chris. As you know, I just went through this a few weeks ago. It’s not much fun.

Goodbye, sweet dog. Condolences to you, Chris.

*hug*

Everyone who has owned a pup is crying for you now.

So sorry, Chris.  May his memory be a blessing to you and Becky.