The Last Winter Rose on Solstice Eve

At exactly 8 PM, we lit the candles,

One for each of our departed pack,

Remembering all the love and joy

They brought to our brief lives,

With their wolfish smiles and guileless tail-wags.

The winter solstice dominates all now,

Chill and cold, but also inspiring

As the spirit of each husky glows anew

In the flickering light of its special candle.

Like this last beautiful rose

That reposes peacefully on the mantle,

Their passage underscores

The linearity of all lives, human and canine.

Soon this rose shall wither, its soul

Absorbed into that of all life

On this beautiful planet we abuse,

So thoughtlessly in our human

Haste to go nowhere fast.

Bless the dogs, for they shall remain

In our hearts forever, as the winter

Reverses itself to embrace the sun again

And bless this rose for sharing its message

Of fragile but eternal hope!