The Rhythmic, Blue Cat

Poem Sixty-Three ♬ - Nanuk, You

You are the bravest boy,
Even when thunderstorms scare you
For you are going before we do to what we can only imagine.

You are the bestest boy,
For being nice to all the others we invited into our home after you
Even when one bit you, and one wanted to play-fight when she was so small.

You were never a big dog,
But you are our big dog.
Even as you lose your much-needed weight.

You wanted to survive on love alone,
Not caring about your food more than you needed to.
You are doing so now, anyway.

You know the lake, and it's beach,
And love it so very much.
I wish we could take you to it one more time.

You don't have much time left, do you?
It pains us all to see you slowly go.
But it hurts even more that you continue to stay,
Your body can't feel too good anymore, buddy.

I wanted you to promise me to stay,
But I know you don't have that power.
And you deserve to rest soon.

You don't have long left,
But you will go to see old friends soon,
Ones you haven't seen in years.

You were always so small,
Even after we named you "Polar Bear," in Inuit.
But how much fur your shed, we could have made a second one.

Nanuk, you old, bravest, bestest boy.
Thank you for the amazing eleven years you graced us with.
I hope to see you again here, but I will see you again there.

❦ ✦ ❦ ✦ ❦
October 28, 2018
Dedicated to my family's eleven-year-old dog, and to kind of help my feelings about his degrading health. I wanted to write something for him, and a few of these lines popped in my head, and it felt only right to do this.

I hope you guys enjoy.