Dog Club ... Together Again

We always called it Dog Club, when Maggie, Bear, Jack, and Eddie would congregate on the bed in the morning. (Eddie was an honorary dog.) And yesterday we said goodbye to the last of the members -- old Maggie.

We've known this was coming -- she's grown more and more senile and anxious, increasingly terrified of thunderstorms and even rain. She would only go outside for the briefest necessary visits -- and then she became incontinent. 

It was time. I like to think the others were waiting for her and now she's running unafraid through those forever fields of moonlight.

(I wrote this some time ago... Maggie's been looking for her friends for quite a while now)

Moonlight floods the room

Scents of all outdoors drift through the open window.

 Old Maggie rouses, stiffly paces, 

Stands beside our bed, waiting.

Outside the night is calling.

Somewhere out there, Bear and Jack,

Dead these two years,

Course the forever fields.

The old dog waits.

 Released at last, she stands on the porch,

Nose tasting the air,

Then sets off, hind legs stiff,

 A slow trot into the moonlit night.

 

Two hours later, she returns, dancing with excitement,

A young dog again, it seems.

Where have you been and what have you seen, Maggie?

She keeps her counsel

But her eyes are full of moon light . . .

Her adventure past,

The old dog lies down to pleasant dreams.

 
 Maggie, aka Magnolia McGee McGoo McGurk
 1998(?) - 2012