Marian's prompt at Real Toads is the song The Wolf Is Getting Married by Sinead O'Connor. ("Your joy gives me joy, and your hope gives me hope.") Needless to say, a topic I love.
My shuttered heart made a painful journey in search of love and peace. And then I found you, little black wolf-pup, adrift in the forest in the March rains, trying to survive. You were nearly dead when I took you home, warmed you up, watched you grow. Laughter came along with you and your big wolfish ears. It didn't stop for fourteen years.
Your joy brought me laughter,
your love brought me rest.
We gamboled the long empty beaches, turned down every old growth trail. Our hearts loved the wild. You shared my wild wilderness spirit, set free after all the years of being tame. You blazed the trail, and I followed behind. But you kept doubling back to check on me and, when there was any threat, you sat facing out, your back to me, ready to defend me.
Your protection eased my longing,
your devotion never faltered.
When we left the wilderness, you mourned with me, but to be with me you left behind all that you loved. Every day we pointed the nose of the car towards whatever wildness we could find. And when we pointed it towards the beach, your joy filled the car.
Your joy brought me laughter,
your love brought me rest.
For fourteen years, you loved me like I had never been loved: unconditionally, unswervingly, devotedly. And I loved you. You came closer inside my heart than any other living being, and did not find me wanting. I adored your wildness, and never wanted to tame you, as others had tried to tame me, to fit me into tight little boxes from which I repeatedly clawed my way out.
Your protection eased my longing,
your devotion never faltered.
You didn't want to leave me, but at fourteen years you could no longer stay. Even when your back and hips and legs gave out, you still tried to hang on. It was the hardest goodbye I have ever endured, and it has lasted the longest. When I say I mourned you more than the loss of the wilderness, you'll have some idea of what a large absence you left behind. I thank you for all those wonderful years. I carry you within now, the way your spirit carried me through our most glorious years together. Years when our hearts knew pure joy, when we loved what we loved together, trail and shore and wild wild waves. Years when
your joy brought me laughter,
your love brought me rest.
My shuttered heart made a painful journey in search of love and peace. And then I found you, little black wolf-pup, adrift in the forest in the March rains, trying to survive. You were nearly dead when I took you home, warmed you up, watched you grow. Laughter came along with you and your big wolfish ears. It didn't stop for fourteen years.
Your joy brought me laughter,
your love brought me rest.
We gamboled the long empty beaches, turned down every old growth trail. Our hearts loved the wild. You shared my wild wilderness spirit, set free after all the years of being tame. You blazed the trail, and I followed behind. But you kept doubling back to check on me and, when there was any threat, you sat facing out, your back to me, ready to defend me.
Your protection eased my longing,
your devotion never faltered.
When we left the wilderness, you mourned with me, but to be with me you left behind all that you loved. Every day we pointed the nose of the car towards whatever wildness we could find. And when we pointed it towards the beach, your joy filled the car.
Your joy brought me laughter,
your love brought me rest.
For fourteen years, you loved me like I had never been loved: unconditionally, unswervingly, devotedly. And I loved you. You came closer inside my heart than any other living being, and did not find me wanting. I adored your wildness, and never wanted to tame you, as others had tried to tame me, to fit me into tight little boxes from which I repeatedly clawed my way out.
Your protection eased my longing,
your devotion never faltered.
You didn't want to leave me, but at fourteen years you could no longer stay. Even when your back and hips and legs gave out, you still tried to hang on. It was the hardest goodbye I have ever endured, and it has lasted the longest. When I say I mourned you more than the loss of the wilderness, you'll have some idea of what a large absence you left behind. I thank you for all those wonderful years. I carry you within now, the way your spirit carried me through our most glorious years together. Years when our hearts knew pure joy, when we loved what we loved together, trail and shore and wild wild waves. Years when
your joy brought me laughter,
your love brought me rest.
