Bakersfield.com

Your death was unexpected; it came before I could brace myself.

I brushed my hand across your eyes as Mercy took your last breath.  A bit of moisture clung beneath your nose.

We dug a hole at the base of the blue blossomed tree and marked it with a large stone.

I held a flower picked from my garden to give to you as a symbol of our friendship.

A flower to keep you company and soothe my sad heart.

Each day I searched the garden for it's finest flower to replace the spent blossom on your stone.

Then one day, other duties kept me from my garden and it was dark before I remembered the flower.

The next day I put two of the nicest flowers I could find on the stone.

The discarded flowers were creating a soft bed beneath the blue blossomed tree.

Yesterday I forgot the flower again, so this morning I hurried outside in the faint light to look for a rose.

But the sun has taken the beauty from my garden and all the flowers are small and faded.

I couldn't find one worthy of you.

Then I saw a brightness, a hint of color in the cool shade of the blue blossomed tree where you lie.

A columbine.  You have grown a flower for me.

*note  This was written for my beautiful, gentle Siamese cat, Sammy.  It represents all of the wonderful animals I have loved over the years.