I FEEL HER LOSS

I touch her and I feel her loss,

Even though she's still right here.
But, in my mind I see the time
For losing her is drawing near.

I never thought I'd feel this way,
She snuck into my heart.
IT seems that she was always here,
And loved me from the start.

I wonder if it's only her
Or am I just projecting
My fear of other loved ones dying...
Losses I'm expecting?

Who can know the human mind?
When I think I DO,
The truth comes rushing at me
And I find I had no clue.

And yet, I see this little girl,
Just four pounds of fur,
And more and more, I think
My sense of loss is just for her.

She loves me like no other
And I understand her games.
I always get response from her,
Each time I call her name.

She rushes to protect me,
From each imagined danger,
And barks as if she's ten feet tall
At every single stranger.

She only wants to be with me,
To cuddle by my side.
Who will fill that vacant place,
When little Princess dies?

There are times I wish
That I had never had a pet.
They live such brief and helpless lives,
It saddens me...and yet,

Like any other love on Earth,
The risk is always there.
It takes a toll on human hearts
When we dare to care.

But if we hide our hearts away,
Behind an icy wall,
The hurts will find us anyway,
But love won't come at all.

(I wrote this a few years ag0. Princess is now old and cranky---and we love her even more if that is possible.)