Tribute to Trooper

I Will Lend To You

I will lend to you for a while
A foal, God said.
For you to love him while he lives,
And mourn for him when he's dead.
Maybe for twelve or fourteen years,
Or maybe for only two or three.
But you will, 'till I call him back,
Take care of him for me.

He'll bring his charms to gladden you,
And, should his stay be brief,
You'll always have his memories,
As solace for your grief.
I cannot promise he will stay,
Since all from earth return,
But there are lessons taught below,
I want this colt to learn.

I've looked the whole world over,
In search of teachers true,
And from the folk that crowds life's land,
I have chosen you.
Now will you give him all your love,
Not think that labor vain,
Nor hate me when I come to take my colt back again.

I fancied that I heard them say:
"Dear Lord Thy Will Be Done."
For all the joys this colt will bring,
The risk of grief we'll run.
We'll shelter him with tenderness,
We'll love him while we may.
And for the happiness we've known, forever grateful stay.

But should you call him back,
Much sooner than we've planned,
We'll brave the bitter grief that comes,
And try to understand.
If, by our love, we've managed,
Your wishes to achieve,
In memory of him we loved,
To help us while we grieve.

~author unknown

I would like to thank Lori 'the Yankee' for the above poem and for all the outpouring of concern and prayers and kind words from everyone I've had the heart to share this heart wrenching event with. It has taken me nearly a month to even look at his photos and just typing this out brought tears again to my eyes.

He was a very special little soul. He tried so hard and tolerated so very much in his short life. He will be missed! We will never forget our wonderful little Trooper.