Our Friend Forever Poem by Buddy Bee Anthony

We'd take soulful walks in the wooded
suburban neighborhood where we lived.
After making his decision about
which direction we'd explore next
He'd stop, wait for traffic
to pass through
then, together
we'd walk across a busy street.
I trusted him not to
take us into dangerous
ground.
He did love the girls.
If there were any girls around
of any species
rest assured, he'd meander over to flirt
laying down his special charms.
batting his eyelashes
and strutting his stuff
Whatever it took
in his bag of tricks.
He tried more than a few times
to fix me up on a first date.
With a fresh faced kitty
he considered up to his
discerning standards.
They could be traveling alone
walking their dogs
or with their boyfriends or girlfriends
he'd see to it
like a loyal wing man
we'd cross paths.
While they'd be
checking him out
he'd slyly peer over at me
signaling me to take clever advantage
with some charming banter
in the hope of sparking up
a fresh love connection.
I basked in his spirit and trusted him
and respected his boundaries.
and felt comfortable
he'd never go missing, or run away,
So, I'd often leave him
to his own affairs
One day I had to
run a brief errand.
His pattern was to
remain at, or very near
the spot where we had parted.
But, this time, when I returned
he was gone.
I nailed photocopied bulletins
with his picture, on telephone polls,
and on market bulletin boards, without success,
in search for our missing friend
Days later, we were about to end our
daily perimeter search
At around midnight
We endeavored to search one last time
We began calling his name and
were about to give up
when we heard a faint, pitiful
'Meh, Meh, Meh'...
As I walked toward the sound, in the dark,
there he was
big as life
black as coal
and rail thin.
exactly where we had parted
eleven days earlier.
He fell exhausted, into our arms.
He appeared
severely dehydrated but,
With restful sleep, good food
love and attention
our good friend managed a full recovery
Only he knew what happened
or where he went
during the course of
his vision quest.

Once, when my girlfriend sustained
an infection from a bite,
while too vigorously, brushing
his hair.
My gal had to go to the hospital
to fight infection from the wound.
Our good friend ran off during
during those days spent in the hospital.
About an hour before I got the call
to bring her home from the hospital
he came bursting through the front door.
I have no explanation
how he managed to synchronize his return
But everyone agreed
He had done due penance
and all was forgiven.
He was more than our friend
He was our teacher, our comfort, our joy
We first met him after he'd been
dumped off at the local Humane Society
abandoned like trash

That day, when he chose us
to be part of his new family
was one of the luckiest days of our lives.
He'd been in their foster care
for almost six months
spending much of his time
dwelling in their medical unit.
His gums were bloody and his teeth
were rotten.
He was underweight
slept the days away
and probably had kidney disease.
I asked a volunteer
'what was his story?
Why was he there so long without
being adopted.'
The young volunteer
told me
'he was a real keeper and
she'd love to take him home
except she had too many rescues
she'd taken into her care already.'
At first I felt she was feeding us a line
of crap.
Still, we invited him
into their meet and greet room
to check one another out further.

He had a powerful presence.
Challenging us
with penetrating green eyes
and tufted pantaloons.
He moved like a dancer.
Planning, many moves ahead of time
his next steps.
As he longingly gazed out
their picture window
I asked my partner
'what do you think of him? '
right then
he stepped down
from the window ledge
and began licking my hand.
He was already scoring points.
So, we brought him home
and for the first few nights
he shook and shivered,
needing time to adjust.
So, we kept him close
soothing him
as we would a newborn baby.
He may have had a bad run
with people and felt
what was coming could only be
more of the same
We took him for health check ups.
We made an effort to include him
in our lives.
We brought him along for errands,
and impromtu social activities.
We even took him
for a cup of ice cream. So, maybe
we weren't so bad after all.
We had nine of his abscessed
and rotting teeth removed.
Nobody really did much more than just keep him alive until we came along. and he was grateful.
His appreciation moved us to
want to more thoroughly
advocate for his care and his comfort.
His vet pointed out he had serious gingivitis
and many more of his teeth
eventually would
have to be pulled.
What they didn't tell us or know at the time,
was he was type 1 diabetic
requiring daily insulin injections.
He had been suffering
for who know's how many years
from symptoms of this condition
until his body began shutting down.
We administered daily insulin shots
and for a time,
his health seemed to improve.
His coat having appeared greasy and disheveled
now seemed healthier, shimmering,
with a richer gloss..
We hand fed him baby food
mixed with raw meat
we mixed in the blender.
so he could easily slurp up this nutritive mush.
We carefully studied food labels
so as to not include
cereal ingredients
which could dangerously elevate his blood sugar.
Only when his legs
became so seriously arthritic
and his condition began rapidly deteriorating.
we then placed him on pain medication.
He never complained.
When he finally, couldn't walk or stand,
We had to make the painful decision
to not prolong his suffering
We knew we had to put him down.
We made an appointment with the doctor
When she arrived at our home,
she asked us to say goodbye to him.
It all was happening in a blur
Far too tidy and formulaic.
He could sense was going on
and started desperately trying to crawl
to his litter box
in part to show us he could still function.
Our little man didn't quite make it to his box
frustrating him further
since he was fastidious
about not making any mess.
Then, focusing on the 'business at hand'
our 'death with dignity' doctor
moved next to him
taking out her bag of death
and shot him up
with a heavy tranquilizer.
We could hear his rhythmic snoring.
Our soulful brother, for the first time
in a long time seemed to be at peace.
We wanted much more time to hold him
and listen to his deep and peaceful snoring.
But, the doctor had her schedule to keep.
So, the medication to stop his heart
was administered and in an instant
his neck muscles went slack.
and he was gone.
His feline head, nodded in all directions,
like a bobble head doll.
The doctor handed back to us
our boy's lifeless shell for one last goodbye.
I kissed the top
of his head as
a lake of tears began
welling up in in my eyes.
rivulets running down my cheek.
We paid her fee.
She wrapped him in his blanket
and hauled him
out to her car.
It was the last we ever saw of him intact.
I can barely express
our deep gratitude
to have been gifted the time we shared together.
There is a small box in our drawer
filled with his ashes.
He entered our lives like a cool gentle rain
and departed with a grief difficult to describe.
Our 9 pound ball of
furious love,
Our friend forever.

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Buddy Bee Anthony