Calli's Gone

The cat love of my life, Calli (for Calico), was awarded eternal rest this afternoon. She earned it.

She was just thirteen, but her body chemistry was failing. She was down to skin and bones and yesterday she stopped eating. Kidney failure. The vet told us weeks ago she'd let us know when she didn't want to be here any longer.

I know millions deal with this all the time, and none of us gets out of this life alive as my old pastor friend Vernon Broyles once told me. But when it happens to you it seems like you're the only one in the world who's ever had to go through it.

Here's the way I described it after another loss a few years ago.

The opening strain proclaims the theme
Of startling emptiness
From overpowering sense of loss
Which can't resist its press.

It settles in, a haunting friend
As variations start;
So every part of life once shared
Is cruelly pulled apart.

Then enter strains which salve the wound,
As Time repairs and starts
Creative thought of future plans
To entertain the heart.

The final movement, classically,
Sings of triumph in its claim
That love will once again feel light;
A healing last refrain.

The Poet and the Pendulum, Lee Neubert Lindeman, Brunswick, ME, 2001, p 17


Leanderthal, Lighthouse Keeper