Sister

No longer grief
Empty, surpassed
Just missing you, still
Since I saw you last

Eight years, your eyes
Soulful and glad
A chance encounter
The last we had

Had I known then
What I see today
The early coming
Of your going away

I struggle to remember
But, then, had I known
I'd have chiseled each moment
To savor in stone

I'd have told you then
What the silence hid
What I saw
When, as a kid

A gift bestowed
A sacred token
A sister given
To fix the broken

And each passing year,
I remember more
From those 18 years
Your were mine to adore

Twelve years the elder
And, I, wide-eyed with awe
I wanted no more
Than to see what you saw

The fragile you showed
Yet, shrouded in wise
The patience and love
And warmth in your eyes

When memory rekindles
A faded moment shared
A new gift again
The broken repaired

It replays like a movie
Rewind, again and again
Till the clearer I see
My sister, my friend

More than I knew
What wouldn't last
How much was broken
After you passed

Like before I knew you
Before I met,
The sister I'd grow
To never forget

The sister who shared
What she had before
The broken she lived
And we helped to restore

The sister who knew
That love was home-grown
Organic and pure
And carved into stone

The Boy and the Bun

The toddler was crying
Hot under the sun
Holding up high
An empty hotdog bun

Puzzled parents!
Even street vendor was sure
A hotdog was there
Just moments before

Too tiny to know
How to put into words
His lunch flew away
With a giant bird!

Who'd believe this tale
Who else knew?
Besides the seagull and I
That it really WAS true?!

That moments before
When no one else was looking
A laughing gull swooped in
To grab what was cooking

Up high and away
He flew toward the sun
To leave behind hungry boy
With just ketchup and bun!

A slithering serpeant, visited I
Among the sage and scorching dry
It was cool where he rested, benign for a bit
He beckoned, "My dear, won't you come and sit?"
"But you'll bite," said I, "And, I'm quite afraid,
To lounge so near you in the shade."
"Hiss I may, and bite I might,
There is no certainty, 'side from your fright."
I pondered this and thought it strange,
No shame for venom, nor pretense for change.
A leopard with spots, and proud yet still
Though chance lurked near for breath to spill
But, poison or naught, so open was he,
I could not help but lounge trustingly.
He shared his shade, and I, my mind,
Knowing that nature, itself, could unwind.
But fright was gone though threat still there,
Oddly, I came not to care,
For comfort and company enjoyable so,
Should venom strike ... there were worse ways to go.

Why I Love Working Weekends at the Vet Clinic

1. After a while, all dog poop smells the same.

2. No shortage of great puns - i.e., I commented today how "unsightly" an injury was to this cute little pug's eye.

3. Growls mean, "Did you shower today?" And, licks mean, "Where's my treat?!"

4. If I didn't shower, I can usually blame the dogs for any noxious smells.

5. Sweet little old ladies and their cats.

6. Tough chihauhua's protecting their sissy pitbull siblings.

7. Two St. Bernards who weigh more than I do!

8. Scaring the new people about the "ghosts" in the old, creepy basement.

9. Getting a tiny little hint 'o grin out of Dr. Sara.

10. A three-legged cat named Eileen.

11. Watching the owners have to watch something really gross like their pet's eye infection getting poked at - especially someone really prissy ... "Oh, eeewwwwww, eeeewwwwww!!!!! Is that what the inner eyelid looks like?!"

12. Treats in my pockets for good doggies .... which means all doggies.

13. How Dr. Grinsell notices the small stuff I do, like weeding the front garden ... and how appreciative he is.

14. Doggies who come in hurt and then get put back together again ... good as new!!!

15. Kitties who purr even when they are getting a shot!

16. Seeing Dr. Sara get all goo-gooey over puppies.

17. Seeing an owner's expression when Dr. Grinsell tells him/her their new little boy kitten, Bob, is really a female.

18. Huge dogs who try to hide when the vet walks in. Rule of thumb ... the bigger the dog, the more terrified he/she is.

Mirror

Admiration ... just sometimes
Then despair.
An anomaly, you know,
Apparition incognito.
There, then gone,
Working ...
To see you, just once
Really see you ...
But, a simple glance,
A lone reflection ...
Is all.