five foot deep

"how deep?" my tone echoing disbelief.

"five foot."

"what! well ... be careful you don't fall in, you're only
a wee thing and they may never find you."

"ERYLL!!"

two ladies of an interesting age burying a beloved pet beneath
the full moon. digging a hole five foot deep! because ...
"people garden you know!"

well, it would have been a full moon if it had been yesterday
instead of today and in the dark of night if it were not for
the five hour time difference between new york and ballantrae.

i wandered downstairs to shut the gates for the night.
although i no longer smoke, i lit up, inhaled deeply and
remembered ...

all those goldfish i buried, not all at once of course,
one by one, as their time came. i buried them under the
golden cyprus by the front steps. i have heard that some
people just flush them. can you imagine! not me, no sir,
i buried them in plastic margarine tubs, preserving their
tiny goldfish skeletons for prosterity.

i remembered ...
a small and very beloved yorkie. small in
stature, he knew no fear. he died gleefully attacking
a rottweiler, with never a backward glance, he leaped right
into that big boys jaws. when my time comes i can only hope
to be living life as intensely as he was at that moment.
the mann wrapped him in a baby blanket and layed him to rest
in a deep, cool hole beneath the lucky bean tree.

i remembered ...
a black and white cat, beloved of a man, who, until their
meeting, had no time at all for felines.
somehow, that small black cat worked his way into the heart
of a dedicated dog man. the pair developed an understanding
and for the first time in our long marriage - a cat was
allowed to share the marital bed!
the cat outlived the man by a good few years. now, his cat
ashes held in an urn, they wait to be buried in the grave where
the man's ashes lie.

i grind the cigarette out, turn my back on the moonlight and
the chill night wind.
i smile at the memories as my heart aches a little with longing
for things lost.
i just can't help myself, i chuckle and exclaim out loud ...
"damn! five foot is a very deep burial hole for a a cat..."