The Waiting Earth

I stood out in the back yard yesterday, enjoying one of the first mild days of Spring. The sunshine warmed the husks of last summer's grass, yellowed and pressed down against the bosum of the Earth by the weight of the (now vanished) winter's snow. There, amid the trees, slender white stakes rose from the grass, bearing silent witness to vanished lives.

"Sunny (SunSpot) 1986-2005"

"Whiskers, Old Friend, 1981-1999"

There is Rosie--I never knew what killed her though I fought for her life even after she had given up.

And Little Tobey, the shelter kitten whose fading life I couldn't save either. At least she didn't die alone and unloved.

Sparky--who died too young from a weak heart. It may have been weak but it was ever-loving. Soon his sister will be sleeping beside him as her kidneys slowly shut down.

And my precious ones--Johnny, Newt, Lucy... I knew them all their lives, from tentative kittens to senior citizens. Through the haze of unshed tears, I smile at the blessing each one was in our lives. I miss them so much.

The ground where they lay is cool and they are deep below me. The Earth will turn, the snows come and go They may well sleep there for centuries undisturbed, sad little time capsules of my love that will persist long after I have vanished.

I can't push too far from my mind the waiting throng in the house. Each of them will come to this spot in time. Sometimes I wish we could all lie down together, sleep that last and final sleep forever nestled against each other. It seems so sad that our loving flesh should be separated and that our bones, which have spent so many hours resting against each other, will spend eternity in cold solitude. Each one of my cats is an inevitable heartbreak and each white stake marks another scar across my heart.

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