MY PURRR-FECT FRIEND (a poem for Clancy)

You know what? I feel really ripped off.For about fifty years now,I've had no real love affair-with an animal (except for a rather attractive sheep I once met whilst on holiday in Wales-or was it New Zealand ?) Sure I have dogs,cats and birds and all that---but not since I was five or six can I say I've really loved an animal.
We had lots of rabbits when I was a lad--and I used to rush home from school each day and sit in the rabbit pen with them all.There was this special blue rabbit,it was different to all the rest--and I loved that rabbit.Every day my rabbit (I can't remember if it had a name)would come up and eat from my hands--I'd push all the other rabbits away,and just spend time with my blue rabbit. One day I came home and went to the run--and my rabbit wasn't there,come to think of it,not many of the other rabbits were there either. Dad was very sad that my rabbit wasn't there--infact so sad,that he gave me "Big Ben" who was the biggest rabbit he had.
I Didn't find out till some time later that dad was infact the breeder of rabbits for the local butchers.Well,at the age of five or six, parents tend not to tell you those things don't they? So my pet blue rabbit ended up on some buggers plate with sage and onion stuffing up its backside.I never got over it.(children,if your dad happens to be the local rabbit breeder for butchers,and you fall in love with one of his rabbits,for goodness sake,tell him)
Dad died when I was about twelve,and in early married life,we lost two babies-so the loss of a pet,after losing family--didn't ever seem that big to me.I love animals,I'd never see them hurt--but seeing people so sad and upset at the loss of one,is something I've not been able to relate to.
We have an old dog Bess,a mongrel-that must be anything between 15 and 18 years of age.She will not die.We have a younger dog LuLu that certainly will die very shortly if she keeps digging my lawn up.
A internet friend of mine,Clancy,had his cat Tony (no relation) die this past week.I feel for Clancy as I feel for all who lose something dear to them.I write this poem for Clancy,trying very hard to put myself in the position of having such a loss.

MY PURRR-FECT FRIEND

YOUR DISH,IT STILL SITS BY THE DOOR,
AND,YOUR BLANKET LIES OVER THE CHAIR.
IT SEEMS SO STRANGE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
TO WAKE,AND YOU'RE NOT THERE.
SEVENTEEN YEARS IS A LONG,LONG TIME,
SO MY TEARS,I WON'T DEFEND.
AS I CRY,MY HEART IS BROKEN
FOR YOU,WERE MY PURRR-FECT FRIEND.

"THERE YOU GO BOY,
SHHHH,YOU'RE FREE AT LAST.
NO MORE PAIN AND NEEDLES
ALL THOSE,ARE IN THE PAST.
THERE YOU ARE,IN PUSSY HEAVEN,
NOW AS AN ANGEL YOU ASCEND,
BUT TONY,IN YOUR TIME ON EARTH
YOU WERE,MY PURRR-FECT FRIEND."

IN MY MEMORIES OF YOU,AS A KITTEN
I GOT CRANKY,I MUST CONFESS.
WHEN AT TIMES, I'D COME HOME
TO FIND A SMELLY MESS.
BUT THE YEARS,THEY FLEW,YOU GREW OLD TOO FAST
NOW,AS A STAR I SEE YOU GLITTER.
AND THINK OF YOU,WHEN YOU NEED TO GO
IN CLOUDS,OF KITTY-LITTER.

AND,I GUESS YOU FOUND ME SPECIAL TOO,
AS YOU SPENT YOUR LIFE ,WITH MINE
KNOWING I COULD GIVE BUT ONE
WHEN YOU GAVE ME ALL NINE.
SO THANKYOU FOR "THE GIFT OF YEARS"
AND OF THE LOVE I COULD DEPEND.
ALWAYS,YOU WERE THERE FOR ME,
FOR YOU WERE,MY PURRR-FECT FRIEND.

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A PLACE FOR YOU
LAPPING AT MY HEART.
A FUR-BALL IN MY MEMORY
THAT NEVER WILL DEPART.
SO,ITS WITH CRYING EYES,AND SAD GOODBYE'S
FOR MY HEART,I NOW MUST MEND.
BUT,I'VE LOVED YOU,AND I'LL MISS YOU,
FOR YOU WERE,MY PURRR-FECT FRIEND.

HAWKESBURY HEARTBREAK

To those of you who don't really know me,or the area in which I live.I live in an area of New South Wales, Australia,called The Hawkesbury--we're at the foot of The Blue Mountains on The Nepean/Hawkesbury river.My area has some of the richest fertile soil in Australia,mainly because it is an area that is regularly flooded.Upstream of our river is the mighty Warragamba Dam that provides Sydney with the bulk of its water.As I said it floods regularly--floods have been measured at the bridge in my town of Windsor for many many years.and looking back over the records today--I discovered that the longest it had ever gone without a flood was 1904-1916--or 12 years.That was until now--our last flood was in 1992.I remember it well,I was one of the last people allowed over the river to go home,before the bridge was closed for days-keeping people trapped one side or the other from their homes or work.
The Warragamba Dam was full to overflow. Crops in the area below the Dam were ruined,stock lost--lives lost too--I remember all to well a local farmer losing his wife as she tried to rescue horses from the flood.Obviously too,after the flood many were out of work as farms were flooded and ruined. It was a Hawkesbury Heartbreak.At the moment our dam is just over 30% full,we have water restrictions.Not allowed to wash cars--we can water our gardens a couple of hours just two days a week--and not with a sprinkler--we have to stand there with the hose--but it hasn't always been like this as I reminisce with Hawkesbury Heartbreak.

HAWKESBURY HEARTBREAK

ITS RAINING IN THE MOUNTAINS
AND THE DAMS FULL TO ITS BRIM.
THERE'S AUTOMATIC OVERFLOW
AND ALL BELOW CAN SWIM.
ITS TWO O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING
FARMERS WOKEN WITH THE NEWS.
THE BRIDGE IS OVER,BANKS ARE BROKE,
WATER,OVER LAND, AND PRODUCE SPEWS.
THE RAGING TORRENT SURGES ON,
TAKING ALL BEFORE,
THERE'S PANIC IN THE HAWKESBURY
STACKING SANDBAGS AT OUR DOORS.

A FARMER ROUNDS HIS HORSES UP,
WHILE HIS WIFE IS SWEPT AWAY.
ALL THIS BEFORE THE DAWNING
OF A FLOOD FORSAKEN DAY.
AND WHEN,DOES COME THE MORNING
THE TORMENT,THE HEARTACHE,
TO FIND WHERE WAS YOUR FARM,YOUR HOUSE
THERE'S NOTHING,BUT A LAKE.
NO WAY OF CROSSING BACK AGAIN
FOR,THERE IS NO BRIDGE AROUND.
FOR DAYS ON END WE'RE SPLIT APART
AS WE SEEK THE HIGHER GROUND.

PEOPLE STRANDED FROM THEIR WORK,
AND CHILDREN,GO WITHOUT.
A CRY GOES OUT FOR GOVERNMENT HELP
SEEMS LIKE THERE'S NONE OF IT ABOUT.
AND WHEN THE WATER TRICKLES OFF,
LEAVING SILT,AND MUD SOAKED LAND.
WHATS LEFT FOR SOME POOR FOLK TO DO,
BUT TO HOLD OUT A TREMBLING HAND.
AS A MAN STANDS AT THE BANK IN TEARS,
SAYING HIS LOAN CANNOT BE PAID.
CAN'T EVEN FEED HIS WIFE AND KIDS
BY THE MESS THIS FLOOD HAS MADE.

THE FARMER WALKS,WHATS LEFT OF IT
HEAD HELD IN HIS HAND.
LIKE A MAN WHO WAS A MIGHTY KING
NOW,CRESTFALLEN FROM HIS LAND.
IN HIS HANDS LIE THE FATE OF MEN
WHO FOR YEARS TOGETHER TOILED.
HOW MANY WILL HE LAY OFF NOW
THAT HIS LANDS BEEN SPOILED.
JOBS GONE,BY THE DOZENS
HE MEANS HIS MEN NO HARM.
BUT WHATS A MAN SUPPOSED TO DO
WHEN THERE'S NO WORK ON THE FARM?

ANOTHER HAWKESBURY HEARTBREAK,
IT'S HAPPENED THROUGHT THE YEARS,
AND EACH TIME AFTER,UP THEY GET
THEN ?-- WORK AWAY THEIR FEARS.