In memory of Peaches

We said goodbye to Peaches on Tuesday. The cutest and sweetest kitty ever lost her battle with kidney disease. To honor the memory of our precious, beautiful girl, we are posting some pictures of her. This collection includes some of her favorite activities, such as sleeping (#1 all time favorite), hunting, and even playing Scrabble. Between pictures are the verses of "When Great Trees Fall," a timeless poem by Maya Angelou.

When great trees fall,
 rocks on distant hills shudder,
 lions hunker down 
in tall grasses,
 and even elephants 
lumber after safety.



When great trees fall
 in forests,
 small things recoil into silence,
 their senses
 eroded beyond fear.



When great souls die,
 the air around us becomes 
light, rare, sterile.
 We breathe, briefly.
 Our eyes, briefly,
 see with
 a hurtful clarity.
 Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
 examines,
 gnaws on kind words 
unsaid,
 promised walks 
never taken.



Great souls die and
 our reality, bound to
 them, takes leave of us.
 Our souls,
 dependent upon their
 nurture,
 now shrink, wizened.
 Our minds, formed
 and informed by their 
radiance,
 fall away.
 We are not so much maddened
 as reduced to the unutterable ignorance 
of dark, cold
 caves.



And when great souls die,
 after a period peace blooms,
 slowly and always 
irregularly. Spaces fill
 with a kind of 
soothing electric vibration.
 Our senses, restored, never 
to be the same, whisper to us.
 They existed. They existed.
 We can be. Be and be 
better. For they existed.