by Sarah A. Is Waiting for Gather to Enforce TOS
Member since:
December 1, 2008

For Derby Day: My Heaven

May 02, 2009 11:34 AM EDT
views: 49 | comments: 35

My Heaven

Somewhere between the dimensions
There is a meadow of blue grass
Where Barbaro runs free.
Beside him, proud Ruffian
And the stalwart Eight Belles,
Slim foals by their sides,
Canter on soft, soft turf
While in the shade of
A green oak tree
My old Lab
Lies watching.

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Comments: 35

Showing my sentimental side, for all to see...
it does seem like heaven :-)
Kathryn E. May 2, 2009, 11:41am EDT
it is lovely.
What is this bewitching hold you have on me, Sarah? I normally don't read poetry unless forced, but I read this. It's quite lovely; even made me a little weepy. Great job.
Con Chapman May 2, 2009, 11:57am EDT
sweet--and I mean that in a good way
Dannielle S. May 2, 2009, 11:57am EDT
Damn. I hope my puppy is there, too.

But, when I don't want to feel all sentimental, I usually wonder whether my husband's tarantula is allowed in pet heaven.
Dannielle,

There's a saying in child-rearing circles "Give them in fantasy what you cannot give them in reality". I had to put my Lab, Bridie Nell, down the same week that Barbaro died. I knew about Ruffian, and I just wanted them all to be together. Your puppy can be there, too. (The tarantula is in Spider Heaven, a fly-invested mecca nearer the equator..)
Kris M. May 2, 2009, 12:01pm EDT
WOW. I'm going to go cry now, and imagine a tuxedo cat lazing on the grass.

That's beautiful.
Kris M. May 2, 2009, 12:04pm EDT
I think it was the idea of Ruffian with a foal that got me.
For those too young to remember her:




Ruffian
Dannielle S. May 2, 2009, 12:23pm EDT
My puppy was 14yo and unwell. I went to a weekend music conference, and when I came home I learned she had to be put down while I was away. I never got to say goodbye.

Within a year, we had to put down two young cats: Tucker (hit by a car) didn't live to see his first birthday, Puff didn't quite live 2 years.

So, the absurdity of the tarantula's demise actually helps: she died because my untidy spouse left a piece of the cats' flea collars on top of her cage (negligent arachnocide.) But, because she never moved during the day, normally, we didn't realize she was dead for months. Spiders are so surreptitious in all they do.
Dannielle,

This is the only heaven I've ever really, really wanted to exist. (It's a big, big meadow, so there's lots of room for the cats, too.)

btw I hate to tell you this, but I lost a beloved tarantula ("Legs") in a divorce. I had to trade her for the boa. I still resent it.
Kris M. May 2, 2009, 12:36pm EDT
I have to admit something that makes me a bad person: I don't think spiders can go to heaven.

Then again, I think the same thing about the entire Bush family, so it's possible I'm just projecting.
I'm with you on the Bush family. Spiders are ethically neutral, so I guess it could go either way.
Katrina Hall May 2, 2009, 1:11pm EDT
Oh, Ruffian. That was so awful. Eight Belles, too. We always threw our top picks into my grandfather's silk top hat - got a pick?
I'm going with Whosit - winner of the Lexington Stakes... Name on tip of my tongue... Advice. Came from behind.
Doug H. May 2, 2009, 1:30pm EDT
Very beautiful. I think seeing Barbaro go down was one of the worst moments of my life. I really wish they'd been able to save him.
Doug - It was awful - I really believe he'd have won the Triple Crown. He reminded me so of Secretariat. His death was so sad, especially in a week when we lost Molly Ivins as well. Have you read Ruffian by Jane Schwartz? It's even sadder than Barbaro's story, if that's possible. Excellent piece of creative non-fiction, btw. If you were female, I'd say be prepared to cry your eyes out, but perhaps that doesn't apply..
Katrina Hall May 2, 2009, 2:44pm EDT
Thank God someone who bets on Derby Day! I'm going with Friesan, Papa Clem, and Dunkirk, because he's so pretty....1,2,3/
Barbaro, oh ,you brought back that terrible time. Thank you for that gentle poem, that helps a little....
Tracy Fabre May 2, 2009, 3:15pm EDT
That's a pretty nice heaven, Sarah. Your sentimental side is high-quality.
Aniko   May 2, 2009, 6:02pm EDT
Beautiful, Sarah. Your images are irresistible, and you achieve them with such apparent ease and simplicity. I like how the progressive shortening of lines helps us zoom in on your Lab under the tree.
Aniko

When I first wrote this in my head, I had my dog loping beside the horses. Then I had to think... Bridie was an English Black Lab - with the really short legs! Cruising along beside the fastest horses in the world? Would've made a funny poem. And this is why we edit them!
JOHN BECK May 2, 2009, 6:41pm EDT
Your sentimental side is sweet, Sarah.
John

Thanks and Never tell anyone!
Kris M. May 2, 2009, 7:00pm EDT
I'm with Sarah -- Ruffian is one of my favorite books about racing. It's almost like she spent time inside the filly's head. William Nack, Secretariat's biographer, wrote a lovely little memoir about her, too, just a couple of years ago. They'll both make you cry.
Just thinking about her makes me cry. I'll have to read Nack's Secretariat stuff. There's a horse I loved, and one that I can think about almost without pain. One of my all time strangest friends was his night watchman for awhile...
Kris M. May 2, 2009, 7:27pm EDT
I've always been fascinated with Secretariat. Besides Nack's bio, there's a terrific book from a couple of years ago called The Horse God Built.

I love the story that after his death the veterinarian who performed the necropsy said Secretariat had the biggest equine heart he'd ever seen. It wasn't due to disease or defect; he just had, literally, almost twice the heart of other horses.
Barb (Gather Site Ferret) Carlson May 2, 2009, 8:04pm EDT
Lovely poem. I have a place like that for all my pets ... lots and lots and lots of ferrets, a few dogs and cats, a bird or two ... and room for me.
Dame Ruth, Chief Executive Elitist D. May 3, 2009, 6:18pm EDT
The first, and last, horse story I ever read was Black Beauty...it tore me up so badly at age 8 I swore I'd never put myself through that kind of emotional trauma again. So I haven't.
DR

Be glad some ill-informed relative didn't send you Steinbeck's The Red Pony for Christmas...

The whole thing is getting to me - and I love watching horse races. For now, I'm going to watch them on YouTube so I'll know in advance that they all get to the finish line OK.
Kris M. May 3, 2009, 7:23pm EDT
More than half my YouTube "favorites" are horse racing clips. Is it possible we're related?
Grems 'gremlin' May 3, 2009, 7:27pm EDT
It is very sweet. I appreciate you making room for our feline friends there as well. Hobbes, a lovely calico will be busy relaxing in the sun and swatting at a but or two.
Kris

I certainly hope so. But given that you seem to be a rational, caring, normal sort of person, the odds are against it.

Grems - There's always room for kitties...
Kris M. May 3, 2009, 9:22pm EDT
I'll give you caring, but "rational" and "normal" -- I must have been misrepresenting myself. :)

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