The weight of grief

-- Pet Grief Poem --

Today I'd like to share with you a poem that Dave's dad Frank Nick Brummet wrote when we were grieving our first dog Skylo. Yesterday's post shared the journey we underwent with our grandma dog Skyla. Yes the names are similar. After Skylo passed on nearly 13 years ago, we found Skyla in the paper a few months later - listed as available through the local SPCA. It felt like a sign - the similarity in names... and so she joined our home 12 years ago. This poem, however, is about the previous dog. Weirdly, since poetry has always been my emotional outlet,  I've never been able to write one about the heavy grief from pet loss as it hits me far to deeply. I can tell you it sits on your chest like an elephant's foot, each breath burns deep in the chest and the world becomes fuzzy and grey while your focus is on grief. It fades somewhat with time, but the pain resurfaces at the most unexpected times. Skylo's passing was shocking - as he darted after a cat just before his leash could be attached and a speeding driver hit him causing irreparable damage. I'll never forget the look he gave me; Skylo looked at me with compassion and love, "don't be mad" he asked, and then tried to comfort me. After Skylo's passing, I couldn't even look at his picture for many years. His ashes lay on a hill we used to hike with him on, his favourite. ...Onyx, the abused child I tried to fix, his ashes are spread on the lake we loved to camp at and around our home... Skyla's ashes have joined him around our home. Now we have a collage of photos of all our pets hanging in our house and I celebrate them all.  So because I couldn't write about it, and because Dad could... he presented us with this gift - expressing the grief in a way we could not, and this aids us still.   I share this today because, once again - I cannot write about the heavy grief I feel over the loss of Skyla... and so, Dad, (who is no longer with us) - your words behind comfort us still. Love you Dad. 

Skylo - Stay!

He was only a dog, people will say:

Why are you grieving all of the day?

Ask the woman who sits and cries

Never again to see those adoring eyes,

Eyes that could sense her every mood,

Silently reminding her to serve the food.

He was her protector, would give up his life,

Her solace, her comfort in times of strife.

Ask the man on the hiking trail 

How much he will miss that curled-up tail

That beckoned him on around each bend,

Never thinking it could suddenly end.

They said they owned him, but he owned them.

Trained them to cater to his every whim,

Yet he loved them as only a dog can love:

Completely, as constant as the stars above.

Then a speeding driver cut short his days,

Struck him and killed him and drove away.

Now he lies in peace on a quietly hill

Where Dave and Lillian visit him still,

Where grasses sway as the evening breeze

Whispers softly among the trees.

The non-believers could never know

How it pains to lose a friend like Skylo.

We miss you forever Skylo, my handsome prince.

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