I can't believe you're gone..

But Billy, you are gone?

You know I stood at the edge of our tiny village today, gazing into paltry emptiness that surrounds me
Except the distant forests that lie like a vast blanket of dazzling green in front of me stares back at me
It knows something, it has a story to tell
The trees have the news sheathed in their weak and weary hearts
They know..Billy, they know.

I wipe the sweat from my brow with the back of my hand, each drop silently sitting as a witness to the scorching African sun
Yesterday I saw you Billy, right at my heel as we ran through the verdant kikuyu grass dancing under the summer sky
Today I put a plate at the table for you my Billy, and put down a bowl of fresh water from the spring for you to quench your thirst,
But Billy, where are you?

All I have now is a half-folded picture
Hanging precariously at the back of my head, suspended by memories of the beautiful days you and I had
It remains a vivid one though,
As it brings flashes of the good times we shared around these open paths in our village,
Your eyes forever filled with love,
They whispered words of comfort to my pained soul,
They wiped away the tangle of sorrows that I carried with me every day,
Because they glittered with a smile and warmth in your heart,
But Billy where are you?
You never said a word
You never said goodbye
You never said you'll leave yesterday
Yet you never said a lie

To the North you have gone they say,
But shattered to a million pieces my heart will forever remain,
I hope you are in a better place,
I hope this poem will find its way to where you are and softly place a doting kiss on your forehead; and bring nothing more but peace to your fluffy face!
Goodbye Billy,
Goodbye...
May the Northerners find you nothing else but love and an awesome, better place to rest!!

Poem by @B_K_chronicles
For my Dear friend: A dedication to her friend Billy!

I wrote this poem yesterday, as dedication to a very close friend of mine who is currently working in Ghana, doing Humanitarian work. She told me about her story over the phone, and I felt her pain as if it had happened to me. Apparently in Ghana people believe it is better to not experience the death of a pet, especially one that you loved a lot, for example your dog maybe. So, as it becomes old and its last days draw nearer, they give it away to people of the ‘North’!

To me it was rather a surprise, considering it was a practice I had never heard of before. So, she woke up to a rather dull day, and she was told the dog, called Billy, (pictured) ‘had gone to the North’.

I guess we all have ways of dealing with different problems. In Ghana, instead of experiencing the painful day when your favorite pet finally take its last breathe, they give it to the people of the ‘North’ (I don’t know why they are known by this name, but, most presumably because they stay in the North). They took it with them, but I believe only God knows what will happen to the dog.