Funny Thing Poem by Diana van den Berg

It’s funny,
I think,
that sometimes
I cannot write
what is closest to me -

like now –
with all my heart I want to write about
Flicka and Tigger and Daisy in Heaven
and Benji and Cleo on Earth
but it rakes my heart into raw bleeding ridges
as it is too soon after Tigger’s and Daisy’s journey
and too soon since they and Flicka
sent me Benji and Cleo
who are such solace for me
in missing my Guardian Angels
and such joy in loving them, my new Earth babies.

It’s funny too,
that it is a freshly turned eighteen-year old girl
from the far country of Namibia
and with whom I correspond by email
from time to time
who pointed this out to me.

(4 February 2011)