Tuesday 28 September 2010

Best Dog in the World

Before today, I've never had to make the decision to put an animal to sleep.
I posted this poem last year but here it is again for Benji, and all those last times that we didn't know were last times - and all the better because of that.



The Last Swim
September, October ... one thing
you don't know at the time is when
you've had your last swim: the weather
may hold, may keep nudging you in.

Only afterwards, sometimes days on,
it dawns on you that you've done:
just the thought of undressing outdoors,
exposing bare skin, makes you wince.

And that's best, to have gone on swimming
easily to the end: your crawl
full of itself, and the future
no further than your folded towel. 
Michael Laskey
From The Tightrope Wedding, 1999
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4 comments:

  1. Unknown29 September 2010 at 20:14

    I love swimming poems :) do you swim year round? do you live near me? we could go together! you probably don't live near me though...the windermere isn't near here! I rhyme! Love your blog :)

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  2. Titus30 September 2010 at 02:15

    Good Lord, a swimming blog! This is so surreal I shall follow you forthwith.

    Benji looks like he was a dude. I'm a dog kind of person. Lovely choice of poem.

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  3. Titus30 September 2010 at 02:16

    Jessica, if you come back, I'm incommunicado with yours again.

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  4. AquaMarina30 September 2010 at 11:27

    Thanks for your comments Jessica and Titus.
    Yes it would be great to swim Jessica, but I fear we are in different countries...one day maybe...
    and yes, Titus, a dude, a dude is exactly what he was...

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