Renewing Our Vows Poem by Dianne Feaver

We waited until August
and its inevitable heatwave,
when our two old cats,
now frail and failing
to fall into a kind of stupor,
and lay limp and lazy
in the still and heavy air.
Then sure they would not fret,
if we were - as was our plan
to lift them gently, one by one
into their car-ride-crates
and quickly, before they could protest
drive directly to the Vet.
No amount of time, not even
seventeen years of loving attention,
and a vow to see them to a painless end
had prepared us for their quiet trust.
They did not make the usual travel fuss
but watched us in silent, round-eyed innocence.
Unaware of our destination,
how could they have known
the nature of their final fate?
Now, as our days shorten, the vow
we made wears a more familiar face.
We ask each other to be as kind now
and not prolong unbearable suffering
beyond the limit of our day.
But to whom will we cling as we did to
each other broken hearted and sickened
with the pain that love and kindness
demands as we renew our promise
with all the strength left in our hearts
to do for one another, just the same?


dfeaver 2016