A poem to share

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"THE MIRACLE OF LIFE" By Barry Taylor, DVM
"Come quick" their mother said,>"The time is getting near,"> She feels that when the kitten come>the children should be there.>She told them that a big orange Tom>took "Kitty" to be his wife>"It's wonderful, a gift from God, the "miracle of life.">At half a year young "Kitty" feels>too painful and too scared>to appreciate six miracles, blind-eyed and yellow haired>But she knows these lives depend on her>and nature tels her how.>and as she cleans them, children ask,>"Mom, can we go now?">But now and then for six more weeks>the children visit her> to play with six new magic toys made of life and fur> The six weeks pass, the newness gone>and new homes yet unfound,.Mom bundles up six miracles>and takes them to the pound.> Where lovingly, with gentle hands and no tears left to cry,>the shelter worker kiss them once>and take them off to die.>And "Momma Kitty" now she's called>mourns her loss and then,>she's put outside, and, of course,.she's pregnant once again..Dad tells "Kitty"STOP THIS NOW>or you won't live here long!">But deep inside of Momma Cat,>this time something wrong.>Too young, too small, too often bred,>now nature's gone awry,>Mamma Kitty feels it too and she crawls off to die.>She too is freed from this cruel world,>and from her time of strife.>How harsh the truth, how high the price,>the "Miracle of Life?" Attorney George Graham Vest gave the famous "Eulogy for a Dog,"the alleged root of the adage"man's best friend." Here's the speech as it was recorded 20 years after the September 1870 trial: "Gentlemen of the jury,the best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungreatful. "Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him prehaps when he needs it most.A man's reputation may be sacrifices in a moment of ill-considered action. "The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. "There one absolutly unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog. " Gentlemen of the jury, a man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. "He will sleep on the cold ground where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores tha come incounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince."When all of the friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation fals to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens."If fortune drives the master forth and outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away cold in the ground, no matter if all other friends presue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death." Source:A state archieves exhibit at the Missouri Supreme Court.