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"We Watched a Dog Die on the Weekend of a Wedding" & "A Waking Thought" by Aaron G. H.



We Watched a Dog Die on the Weekend of a Wedding


We sat -my daughter and I-

on a park bench

eating a snack.


A treat after a long walk;

a restful pause before a busy day of family and friends.


Across the path another family and their dog.

A large ball of fluff and fur resembling a shabby wolf- lying still.

Close beside it lay another dog- wagging its tail.

A few family friends stood nearby

all waiting and watching.


We sat, snacked, and watched.

We sat and snacked and I began to comprehend.


Unknowingly, we had joined a vigil.

A mournful wait

for an impending release,

and final goodbye.

A moment imbued with love and imminent loss

flush with the light of a midday sun.


The stillness of the moment was

broken by a needle produced from a white van

A short walk and

a shot is buried into fur

into the pink flesh beneath all that fluff and fur.

The dog dies

Right before our eyes.


We sat there and…


I thought of our dog at home.


I thought of grandparents, parents, siblings, spouse…

of hospices and palliative care teams, visitations and funerals

I thought of loved ones and friends

of tragedy and truth.


I thought of my young daughter sitting close beside me

Uncomprehending, uncomprehending, uncomprehending.


The silence of the scene was

disrupted by my daughter’s curiosity:

What are they doing?

Why are they crying?


I fear a day of real comprehension

For her

For me.

What was this we were witnesses to?

This haunting scene- this Holy moment-

So exposed to the elements

to all eyes and passersby.


The second dog continued wagging its tail.

Uncomprehending, uncomprehending, uncomprehending.



We packed our snack

And returned to our walk.


What else were we to do?



A Waking Thought


I dreamed a nostalgic nightmare

The cool caress of a lover’s hand

once so familiar, now distant and nearly forgotten

returned to me in my rest.


I wake haunted by the memories

this vivid vision has invited

so rudely into this room.

As my partner, my friend,

My chosen companion- lay asleep beside me.


Why trouble my mind with such fantasies,

Dream-weaver?

deceiver, who seeds my thoughts with what-if’s-

What was…

What could have been…


As my waking mind begins to shake

The dreary dreamlike state

and return once more to the reality that is-

I love this life:

all that has come

and all that is

and perhaps all that will be.


But damn my dreams that break this bliss

causing my mind to wander

this restless wonder when I wake.


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