The Dance, with those we love

I know they are with us always, but our too-human hearts miss them. Today we are missing Burt, my daughter's soul companion of 13 years. She lent him to me to love for a few years. Such a character, a talker, both out loud and silently, he liked to be chauffeured on shoulders, to play the stair game and Bongo Burt, and to escape occasionally out the door to ogle the girlcat next door. An unconditional love, a wonderful, joyous dancer.







The Dance

Looking back on the memory of
the dance we shared, beneath the stars above.
For a moment all the world was right,
how was I to know that you'd ever say goodbye?
And now I'm glad I didn't know
the way it all would end, the way it all would go.
Our lives are better left to chance,
I could have missed the pain,
but I'd have had to miss the dance...

Tony Arata
Sumi portrait of Burt by John Mulligan