Mitch

I never knew you very well,
You were just a little dog I would meet in the street
A Shih Tzu, your owner called you, and I always had trouble with it
Seeing as I was only six or seven at the time

It must have been outside of school that I first met you,
Down the road maybe, or outside your owner’s bungalow
Possibly even in front of the sweet shop or the post office
Sometimes you were tied to the railings there

You were a funny looking dog,
With your clipped, brown and white coat, plumed tail,
Squished up face and black little eyes and nose
A squat little clown, you were, on little bowed legs

The most memorable thing about you was,
Your attention-begging trick
When you stood on your back feet and pawed and pawed
Until somebody bent down to stroke you

It was a sad day when your owner was hospitalised, then shunted aside
She ended up in a care home recently, did you know?
A neighbour took you in because we could not, not with Bex
She found you a rural home, somewhere in the country

And that was the last time I saw you, a little before Christmas
Your were old then but your new owners fell in love with you
My mother tells me that they were devastated at your loss,
And so am I

RIP Mitch, ??-2008