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Sugar
As I walked slowly
Every step let me know
That pain was my rude visitor
And would not let me go
January frozen white
And ice along the way
Threatened to pull me down
As I traveled that day
I had just been in the emergency room
Where time was always short
Where clipboards and people in white
Poked me and made me contort
And a doctor briefly spoke the impersonal
And briefly checked me over
And briefly wrote down a few words
And said I had to move over
And they whisked me into X-Ray
And I lay down on a table
And they moved and quickly stretched me
When I was barely able
And then I walked beside a nurse
Who led me out the door
Very quickly, very briefly
And I wondered, “What did I come here for?”
Pain was my only companion
As I walked back outside
I never knew things could hurt this bad
As I waited for my ride
And later at home sitting on a couch
I thought about this day
I felt an avalanche of sorrow
For things that came my way
It was a time I hoped tomorrow
Would be a better day
I looked around the empty room
And was filled with dismay
And then our cat “Sugar”
Put his front paws on the couch
And slowly, gently pulled himself up
Upon my lap to crouch
And slowly, gently raising his head
He nudged me with his face
He pushed his nose into my heart
As though it were an embrace
Sugar knew that I was hurting then
And the tears I couldn’t hide
Sugar knew a way to tell me that day
He saw the pain inside.
I couldn’t believe what he was doing
And later I would come to know
That Sugar had his own pain inside
And he was sick but I didn’t know
Two weeks later to the Vet we took him
And sadly we were told
That Sugar wouldn’t get any better
He was sick and very old;
And we had to put him down that day
And say “Goodbye” and walk away…
But I will never forget our cat Sugar
Whose own needs he set aside
To gently climb up in my lap
And be close to my side…
By Randy Stahla Copyright 2007
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