Lend me an animal

I should like to lend you an animal, said God, to love for as long as it lives and to mourn when it dies.

I can not promise that it will remain with you for ever; whatever is on earth at sometime returns.

You will, however, for my sake, look after it until I call it back. The  different ways that it will show its love for you, will bewitch you and, tho'it remains with you for only a short time, you will have these memories to comfort you.

Are you prepared to give it your undying love and not count the cost? 

And not hate me when I call it :Home"?

My heart replied:

Lord so be it. I shall risk any future pain for the joy that this animal will give me. I will protect and love it for as long as you entrust it to me. I will be forever gratefull for all the moments of happiness that it will give me.

And should you call it back, sooner that I would have wished, I will accept the grief and try to understand.

And when it returns to you, please send me another little soul to love and protect for as long as you will leave it with me.

 

 

inspired by a Norse legend

By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,
Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.
Where the friends of man and woman do run,
When their time on earth is over and done.

For here, between this world and the next,
Is a place where each beloved creature finds rest.
On this golden land, they wait and they play,
Till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.

No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,
For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.
Their limbs are restored, their health renewed,
Their bodies have healed, with strength imbued.

They romp through the grass, without even a care,
Until one day they start, and sniff at the air.
All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back,
Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.

For just at that instant, their eyes have met;
Together again, both person and pet.
So they run to each other, these friends from long past,
The time of their parting is over at last.

The sadness they felt while they were apart,
Has turned into joy once more in each heart.
They embrace with a love that will last forever,
And then, side-by-side, they cross over… together.

© 1998 Steve and Diane Bodofsky. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.newrainbowbridge.com/index.html

Let us stop for a few moments in memory of all those thousands of stray animals, that passed over the Rainbowbridge poisoned, abused, killed, by the hand and indiference of man.  Those who didn' have the chance to be loved and cared for.

All animals mentioned below, were strays.
Our beloved Helektra left in dignity, as she had lived in the Shelter since we found her almost dying, one year ago.  We gave her what she had never experienced in her life.  Love, a caress, good food, treatment and the sofa of the Shelter's office.  Until the moment came for her to pass over the Rainbowbridge.  Sweet Helektra, we have loved you very much.

Nelson had been rescued by little Mareikje from the hands of some kids who tried to drown him.  We were all so happy when Mareijke's family decided to keep him.  At last he had his own loving family, with people around him, other cats and a dog.  Last night, during a severe epileptic fit, he didn't make it.  Feline Nelson Mandela is walking now free on the rainbow bridge.  God's speed sweet kitty.  27.06.08

Olympia came to our life like a shooting star.  She shone in the sky for a short time and like a shooting star she faded away.  The wishes of her numerous friends from all over the world, Greece, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, accompanied her to her voyage across the Rainbow bridge.  Little girl, you have left a mark on everyone's soul whose path you have crossed. 25.03.08

We gave her the name Sinead but we all called her Grandma. She was terribly skinny, with no hair and her thin body was covered with wounds.  She was brought to the shelter to be euthanized, but we kept her and tried our best to allow her some dignity at the end of her life. She hang on for about one year.  Sweet Grandma, who so much loved treats, didn't wake up yesterday.  Beautiful, young and strong she is running now, bathed in the rainbow's glow.  6.1.2008
 

Sweet old Daisy has gone over the Rainbow bridge.  She was found a few months ago at the foot of a cliff, half blind and ill.  Her illness and her old age didn't help her to overcome her weakness. Run now Daisy with your little short legs, young and healthy, on the meddows of the Rainbow bridge. Run... 26.11.07
Our sweet Litsa is no more.  She had lived 18 months at the shelter and she was always a timid animal, often scared to death with no apparent reason.  Who knows what she had experienced in her pup days. She was adopted, but fate didn't give her a chance. Panic stricken she escaped and after wandering in the cold and rain she was hit by a car. We all are devastated with her loss. She came to this frightful world and left it with the horror in her eyes. Darling Litsa rest in peace, nothing can scare you anymore.
 

Lily baby didn't make it.  She lived in an enclosure with many other pups until someone would choose her for adoption.  Unfortunately the shelter has not the space for the large numbers of puppies people discard and abandone. Until some day a woman brought to the pups a large amount of lamm bones.  Lily made it to the shelter, just to die in our hands, mortally injured in her intestines.
 

Sweet little Urania, flew to the skies to meet the other pups who have departed.  She left her mark in our heart.  We still cannot see a reason to her death.  Was it our mistake?  When she left, she was that close from a happy life.  It was a few days before she would meet her family.  May 2007.
Buggy was found in the streets, his back leggs  paralysed.  The family who found him, kept him at home for a week and showed him the love he had not dreamed in his whole short life.  Then, they followed the advise of the vets.  Buggy, would never be able to walk.  He crossed the rainbeow bridge in the arms of "his" family. The little daughter of the family is convinced that Buggy runs now free in the rainbow and her beloved departed grandfather watches over him.  May 2007
This is how Greco looked like when we first found him on January 2006. We took him in the shelter, we cured the wound of his neck, we fed him, we pampered him and we brought him back to his pack. You should have seen his joy when he met his pals again. A few days ago we found him poisoned. He was lying next to Wolfi's, Leon's and Philos' dead mom, whom we had neutered last year. You were an old and wise dog, Greco. I wonder if you can forgive the "humans" who did that to you. March 2007.
 

 

 

 

Pashalia our sweet girl, left us just one week before joining her family. The pain is unbearable for the depart of this animal. 13.2.07 
 

Louisa was beautiful, affectionate, brave but with no luck.  She was found paralysed, but neither blood tests nor X Rays proved anything.  At the end she stoped fighting for her life.  She stoped eating and drinking, she placed her head in our hands and left for the bright rainbow bridge.
 

 

 

Little Leila and sweet Ivi didn't make it.  When their mom was brought to the Shelter, she gave birth to four sweet babies.  The first pups to be born in the Shelter and they were greeted with great joy.

Despite the efforts of our Vet the two little girls could't make it.  They left, leaving a void in our hearts.

 

 

 
 

Our little monkey Bubble who climbed on every fence he could get his paws on.  Who made us laugh with his naughtiness.  Who insisted to join the gang of the Shelter's older pups and didn't mind whenever he landed under their feet.  He left us this spring.

 
 

Nico the little fellow from the big port, where he was found gazing the ships, with his brother Pico.  He was seriously sick and couldn't make it.

Run little Nico with your short leggs and play in the medows of the Rainbowbridge.
 

Kounoupis, our little black Mosquito, was brought to the Shelter completely dehydrated, with wounds covering his tiny body and with difficulty using his leggs.  Despite the efforts of our Vet and Beauty's, who took him immediately under her wing, Kounoupis left us a few days later.
Aftias was one more young animal that suffered by the hand of man.  He was found abandoned on the big road with his ears cut with scissors.  Two extended wounds!

In the Rainbowbridge he will run and play and feel the wind blowing through his two big ears.
Harriet is no longer...  She was a sweet lovely dog who was treated, spayed and vaccinated in the shelter this summer and then returned to her neighborhood.  Two days ago she was found poisoned. We wonder why... Harriet was no danger to anyone.  She was such a sweet animal.  She was an animal under the protection of the Marcopoulo Municipality.  Sweet Harriet forgive him.  Your heart was much biger than his.

 

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