Rudyard Kipling's "Power of the Dog"

T

Tom Johnson

Active member
My Flatcoat, Maggie, got bad news from the Vet today...feelings have been said well by others getting the same news on this forum before, thought I'd ask you to google Kipling's Power of the Dog poem...don't know how to attach it here, easy to find. Hits the mark well for anyone that has had a pooch with muzzle going gray....
 
Anyone who has been here anytime at all knows your pain. You are in good company here. I have lost 3 wonderful four legged partners and each time sucks as bad as the time before. I am truly sorry for your bad news.
 
It's always hard. Here is the text from another web site:

The Power of the Dog

There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie--
Perfect passsion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart to a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find--it's your own affair--
But ... you've given your heart to a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!)
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-term loan is as bad as a long--
So why in--Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

Rudyard Kipling
 
Very sorry to hear the news, Tom.

My wife and I have noticed accelerated graying on the muzzle of our lab, Remi. I feel a thud in my gut every time I think about it.
 
"I will tell you a very wise thing. If a man is really intelligent, there's practically nothing a good dog can't teach him." - Robert Ruark , The Old Man


That a dog brings so much into our lives makes departing so difficult. They take part of us with them.
 
Tom, i feel your pain,literally. We have lost so many exceptional dogs it deeply saddens me. I can no longer read the tribute column, it tares at me.
But we keep coming back for more,a Chihuahua and a Pudelpointer both exceptional in their own way, they are ours to love and enjoy and we do , knowing that some day we will experience the same sadness.

This by Isla Paschal Richardson gives me great comfort:
Grieve not,nor speak with tears,but laugh and talk of me as if i were beside you, i loved you so 'twas Heaven here with you.

Hope this helps,Bill.
 
Tom - Though we never met and may never meet the sorrow we share is our common bond. I am so very sorrow to learn of the news you have shared with us. No words can truly comfort you, but your memories of true friendship, willing devotion and an unquestionable love that will last with you forever, will help you through this.
 
When I look at my 5-year-old lab's graying muzzle, it gives me a lump in my throat. My family's last lab lived to the ripe age of 15. Kipling was right, but the good times and the memories exponentially outweigh the sorrow. My heart hurts for you, Tom. None of us should take one second of companionship (especially afield) for granted.
 
It always saddens me to hear of a dogs passing. I lost my all time favorite dog three years ago this past November. The next year my wife had just completed all her treatments for breast cancer in November and was ready to recertify our Greyhound so she could take him back to visit people at the hospital chemo units and the Vet opened him up in December to find a massive tumor in his gut. Two dogs in just over a year in really tuff to take. I think of both dogs quite often. We now have two more Greyhounds and a beagle mix. I just try to enjoy them as much as I hope they enjoy us.

Tom
 
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I am so very sorry for your pain. Just 2 weeks ago we (my wife, 2 sons, sister, & Dad) all accompanied our beloved Bella of 12 years on her final visit to the vet.. We also had received the bad news the day before. I don't know what was worse? Her final night at home, or all of us there with her as she crossed the rainbow bridge?
THE RAINBOW BRIDGE
Just this side of Heaven is a place called the rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to the rainbow bridge. There are meadows & hills for all our special friends so they can run & play together. There is plenty of food, water, & sunshine, & our friends are warm & comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill & old are restored to health & vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole & strong, again just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy & content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster & faster..
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.
Then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together.....
-Author unknown
 
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