By Linda Elissalde
I wrote this poem for Christmas of 2017…
When our Lili passed away, we decided – No more dogs. Our hearts were broken. Time passed. The house seemed empty. Our breeder let us know that a litter of Labradoodles was to be delivered. We drove to south of San Antonio and picked Emma out of the litter of four, or maybe she picked us out.
Emma Grace is now 8. We dearly love her.
We were dreading Christmas most sad and weary.
Our hearts were so cold. Our thoughts were so dreary.
The first Christmas without Lili our pet
Caused us great sadness; caused us to fret.
Lili was lovely. She was smart and so sweet.
We could not replace her. We dare not repeat.
Then came a moment we shall certainly remember.
Olivia called, “There will be a litter in September.”
We have to admit our attention was hooked.
There would be no harm if we just went and looked.
Four furry four-legged creatures greeted us that day.
They all were so cute, and they all wanted to play.
Not one could be Lili we soon realized,
But there was one girl with black shoe-button eyes.
This one seemed determined to pick us out.
She licked us a lot and followed us about.
Our resistant to a new puppy started to fade.
We agreed on the price, and a deal was made.
Oh my goodness. We must have been insane.
Still, we decided that Emma would be her name.
Bringing her home was certainly no time of glee.
First Emma threw up on him, and then covered me.
Trying to clean spots and not let her bite.
Toys everywhere and getting up every night.
Smelly, beachy objects could not be beat
To roll around in and better to eat.
We had forgotten the things that weren’t fun.
Once in while we asked, “What have we done?”
But wasn’t she cute when she jumped or she pounced
On any thrown item that squeaked or that bounced?
A wagging tail was the greeting for going away
When returning home after ten minutes or a day.
It appeared as if the season wasn’t all bad.
Lili had sent us a friend to help make us glad.
This old year is ending. A new one will begin.
An old love has been lost, but hearts can love again.
So to dear Emma, whom we now hold quite dear,
Thanks for a good Christmas and a Happy New Year!
