A Tribute to Benny and Surry...written by Barbara Schmitt (poem taken from the book "Angel Pawprints")

"So Long, Pal"

(-Ethel Blumann, 1935)

"We've wandered together
In all sorts of weather,

The sun on our coats and the wind in our hair.

We've traveled the highways,

The streets and the byways,

In country or city, with never a care.

In summer's lush greenness

Or winter's gray leanness

Through fields, over hills, just you and I, 'Boy.

And stopping or going,

Or hasting or slowing,

My word was your law, and my will was your joy.

No hills' rocky steepness,

No roaring stream's deepness

Could stop your swift leap or your brave, onward stride.

With your eyes full of laughter
You'd watch me crawl after,

But always you'd wait till I stood by your side.

But we've come to the lonely

Dark crossroads where only

One may go on, and the other must wait.

Do you watch my feet blunder

With slow steps, and wonder

Why I linger so long, why I'm coming so late?

They'll be long years and hollow

For me, 'till I follow,

But I think you'll be waiting for me as of yore,

And then at our meeting,
You'll bark a glad greeting,
And we'll start out anew, together once more."

*In memoriam... "The Benny and Surry Years: 2000-2009"