BEN
Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 2:44 pm
BEN
A tribute to my Border Collie
© 1993 Rod Walford ( my first ever poem)
Many’s the trial your father won while mother worked the sheep;
Together they have gifted you with assets buried deep,
A handsome face, intelligence, agility and speed,
With heart so true and loyal, such a credit to your breed.
Your paw-pads crunching softly on the icy grass
The frost-hung beech hedge in the moonlight basks
The silver light of moon deflecting
Dances in your eyes, reflecting
Such faith in lovely eyes, which, like bright amber, shine
As the coal-black sheen of your coat at brushing time.
Ah! how your handsome features mirror images of night!
With your cloak of darkest charcoal, and your blaze of snowy white.
Yet, what is it that endears you so, that quality so treasured?
That great unspoken attribute, alas, so oft unmeasured,
But loyalty, the priceless gift revered above all other
Which neither time can render mute nor earthly distance smother.
In summer’s careful warmth, ‘midst June’s orchestral sound
We walked and ran together, field and woodland all around,
In pedigree you stand as one of England’s finest breed
Empowered by the instinct so exemplified by deed.
As golden crown of setting sun dropped slowly from the skies
You would sit and tell me stories with your telepathic eyes
No words were ever needed, and none were ever said,
But you always got the message through before you went to bed!
Now destiny and circumstance, those pruning tools of time,
Combined to part us sooner than did any plans of mine;
I grieve that we were miles apart when you were laid to rest
But in my heart you’ll always be just what you were - the best!
As Omar once reminded us, the moving finger writes,
And I look back on our friendship over countless days and nights
It is my hope, it is my prayer, the day we meet again,
We’ll run in those Eternal fields, my faithful, dear old Ben..
A tribute to my Border Collie
© 1993 Rod Walford ( my first ever poem)
Many’s the trial your father won while mother worked the sheep;
Together they have gifted you with assets buried deep,
A handsome face, intelligence, agility and speed,
With heart so true and loyal, such a credit to your breed.
Your paw-pads crunching softly on the icy grass
The frost-hung beech hedge in the moonlight basks
The silver light of moon deflecting
Dances in your eyes, reflecting
Such faith in lovely eyes, which, like bright amber, shine
As the coal-black sheen of your coat at brushing time.
Ah! how your handsome features mirror images of night!
With your cloak of darkest charcoal, and your blaze of snowy white.
Yet, what is it that endears you so, that quality so treasured?
That great unspoken attribute, alas, so oft unmeasured,
But loyalty, the priceless gift revered above all other
Which neither time can render mute nor earthly distance smother.
In summer’s careful warmth, ‘midst June’s orchestral sound
We walked and ran together, field and woodland all around,
In pedigree you stand as one of England’s finest breed
Empowered by the instinct so exemplified by deed.
As golden crown of setting sun dropped slowly from the skies
You would sit and tell me stories with your telepathic eyes
No words were ever needed, and none were ever said,
But you always got the message through before you went to bed!
Now destiny and circumstance, those pruning tools of time,
Combined to part us sooner than did any plans of mine;
I grieve that we were miles apart when you were laid to rest
But in my heart you’ll always be just what you were - the best!
As Omar once reminded us, the moving finger writes,
And I look back on our friendship over countless days and nights
It is my hope, it is my prayer, the day we meet again,
We’ll run in those Eternal fields, my faithful, dear old Ben..
