My ink is drying up and my pen no longer writes smooth This just can't happen now, to many thoughts I will loose Fading away this old body, still more to write, to be heard My memories and precious images are becoming a bit blurred
My hand shakes, the paper gets wrinkled as I write so fast But I must write quickly while the thoughts in there still last Some verses, as I write I laugh, often things were very funny Then the sad things, my tears make the ink blurred and runny
So pass my writings down to every family child that arrives Never just store them away in some back room archives May the pages look well read, the corners torn and tattered It will be a way of telling me, to you my poems mattered
Author Eileen Clark
Image ~ tattered pages on a old book of poems – Google Search
It all started with me going to Texas with my daughter Kelly, her husband Henry and my two granddaughters and my little Shih Tzu Pookey. Pookey stayed all week at my son David’s home in Texas while I stayed in a motel in a near by town because the motel didn’t allow dogs, not even cute tiny ones. David has four dogs, three cats, and Kelly had her two dogs there also. It was way to much for my little Pookey plus the fact that she got loaded with fleas from the sand in my sons back yard. His wife Betty wanted me to give Pookey to her permanently. Are you kidding, that flea ridden yard would kill Pookey in a week, no way!
The trip started out to be a bit traumatic for her but did get better as the miles went by. Pookey was standing up on her hind legs with her paws on the window watching other cars pass us. When others in passing cars saw her little face they would laugh and wave at her. Then after our week long visit we went back home to Kentucky and Kelly made the choice to go back to Texas and stay, make it her home. Pookey loves Kelly more than anyone else in our family, yes, even more than me.
I gave Kelly my loveseat to take with her to Texas, it was Pookey’s little couch too. She would sit on the back of it every day and look out the big windows behind it at the birds eating from the feeder and at all the neighbors dogs that come in and out of our back yard, and cats. She didn’t know where to sit in my living room after the loveseat was gone so I bought a new loveseat.
Every day she sat at the sliding door that goes into Kelly’s house and made little sad noises. Not a cry, not a whine, just little sad noises, all day. Another week went by and I noticed her hair was gone from around both her eyes. The reason you wouldn’t notice it right away is because her hair on the top of her head is long and almost covered her big brown eyes.
A few more days went by and Pookey seemed to be getting worse. The skin around her eyes formed a crusty kind of mess and her nose was runny, she looked terrible! The following day I took her to the vets and he said the cause for her condition was anxiety, stress, and missing a family member that she loved, that’s what his diagnosis was.
He also said some dogs will get sick to the point where they will die when a person they love dies or moves away. He prescribed some meds and put a protective neck collar on her.
How we get her to take her pills is to put them in a small amount of peanut butter on a spoon, it works great and peanut butter is good for dogs.
Pookey no longer wears the cone, her hair is growing back, her eyes are clean and bright and her eyelashes are slowly growing back. It did give me a scare and I hope to never go through anything like that again.
With Kelly and the granddaughters gone I could see that I couldn’t take proper care of Pookey by myself. I sent out a couple of emails to close friends that I thought might take her and sure enough Leah my closest friend that I had hoped would take her called me right after the emails went out and asked me if I was really wanting to give Pookey away. The good thing was Pookey already knew this friend from her visits to my home so that helped when I had to say good by to Pookey. It was a painful and tough decision to make to give her away.
She is really happy with her adoptive family. She has more people around her all the time, mom and dad, grandma, grandkids, and others popping in and out of there home.
She actually gets out of the house and goes places like shopping, getting ice cream and to visit family friends. When she was with me she only got out on my deck. All and all it was a very good decision I made. The picture below is her on her way to McDonalds.
An update: Pookey died two months ago of old age, she was loved and had a good and happy life.
In elephant families the females are the boss Choosing a matriarch they are not at a loss The older and experienced one leads the herd Walking in a straight line no one gets deterred
The journey is a constant search for food and water Amazingly that task is left for moms and daughters Young ones hold on to the tails of mothers for protection All the adults for there young have such great affection
When family or friends meet, they have such joyful greetings Spinning around, flapping ears, touching trunks, then repeating Surprisingly they love to swim, role around in the water at play To quench there thirst they will drink up to fifty gallons a day
All the elephants will circle around one that is hurt or weak Even though they are very large, their disposition is meek No other animal shares this kind of caring family interaction That is why we find the elephant such a wondrous attraction
Author Eileen Clark 2022
It is a day, a long awaited day for you and for me,
Jehovah’s glorious day, upon us soon, for all to see.
It seems so often in the day, every day, it crosses my
mind,
It keeps me going, keeps me knowing, it soon will be
fine.
*
Through out the day, every day, I hear in my head,
Scriptures to calm me, to reassure me, that I am being led.
To a pure and gentle place, with warmth of sun and soft
misty showers,
Never again fearing the storms lashing out on us with
violent powers.
*
The day is coming when I will be clean and pure, happy and
whole,
When my body will stand tall and straight, and I won’t be old.
When I will run along side of my family and friends, and kneel
down to Jehovah to say…..
*
I have waited, and you have kept your promise, reasuring us of
this glorious day,
Thank you Oh Father, may we never again let you down we
pray.
Eileen 2012
{ After Thought }
We as Jehovah’s Witnesses believe from scriptures in the Bible that we will be living in a paradise here on this earth forever.
Psalms 37:11 But the meek will possess the earth, and they will find exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.
Knowing this helps me to deal with the arthritis pain and not being able to go for walks in the woods which I use to do often. One day while thinking about Gods promise, this poem came to be.
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