Persian Quatrains For Jeanie Poem by Gert Strydom

You used to chase the tennis ball in a sudden dash,
would jump into the swimming pool with a loud splash
or would chase away the pecking doves
in your territorial clash.

*

When I came back from work, even if I was running late,
you would faithfully in the dark wait,
would leap ecstatic up and down
while barking in joy at the garden gate.

*

Perhaps in that last summer you sensed in your own way
that your time would be up, while I have got to stay
and followed and adored me much more
until the last sunny day.

*

In that last tick-fever finality
that came so very suddenly between you and me
pain stuck a raw nerve in my heart
when in your eyes the fight of trying to live I did see.

*

Who truly knows the Creator’s plan,
the essence of friendship between dog and man,
the simple things that are binding an animal
much closer, than man to any human?

*

In the kingdom beyond I believe you are free
but I do not know it with certainty,
as we view God from a confined perspective
but I want you, to again be with me.