Yesterday we said a sad goodbye to Columbus, our almost-14-year-old golden doodle. Although it's impossible to keep the end from being hard, I have to thank two of my neighbours for recommending a vet to come to our home to put Columbus down. All of us appreciated being together when he departed life and feel blessed to have shared all these years with such a wonderful creature. Below is a poem a friend sent "If It Should Be"
If it should be that I grow frail and weak
And pain should keep me from my sleep
Then you must do what must be done
For this, the last battle can’t be won
You will be sad – I understand
Don’t let your grief then stay your hand
For this day, more than all the rest
Your love and friendship, stand the test
We’ve had so many happy years
What is to come can hold no fears
You’d not want me to suffer so
When the time comes, please let me go
Take me where my needs they’ll tend
Only, stay with me until the end
And hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see
I know, in time, you too will see
It is a kindness, you do for me,
Although my tail, its last has waved
From pain and suffering I have been saved
Don’t grieve that it should be you
Who must decide this thing to do
We’ve been so close, we two these years
Don’t let you heart hold any tears.
If it should be that I grow frail and weak
And pain should keep me from my sleep
Then you must do what must be done
For this, the last battle can’t be won
You will be sad – I understand
Don’t let your grief then stay your hand
For this day, more than all the rest
Your love and friendship, stand the test
We’ve had so many happy years
What is to come can hold no fears
You’d not want me to suffer so
When the time comes, please let me go
Take me where my needs they’ll tend
Only, stay with me until the end
And hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see
I know, in time, you too will see
It is a kindness, you do for me,
Although my tail, its last has waved
From pain and suffering I have been saved
Don’t grieve that it should be you
Who must decide this thing to do
We’ve been so close, we two these years
Don’t let you heart hold any tears.
