For Those that Make it Across the Highway

Was I at home or at school that day in Portsmouth

I must have been at home

Then we heard the sickening screech of wheels

Our Sandy had been hit by the school-bus

Yes she was killed

And she died

Of course like most people I cried

I was in elementary school back then

One day I was driving down the highway

And I heard a bump

I jumped out my car

My bumper had a dent and was rubbing against the tire

Fragments of glass from my headlight

And red plastic from the headlight cover

Strewn on the road

And sadly the warm lifeless body of a small dear

I did not mean to do it

I did not mean to it

Why did it have to run out in front of my car that day

So I write this for all the God's creatures

Who I see crossing the road-way

Some have made it

Many will not

I pray the serenity prayer almost constantly when

Our mechanical machines

Encounter our four footed friends

Keeping in mind the losses I have had

This makes me more mind-ful

To let them cross the highway and byways when it is in my power

And since the day and loss of the deer

I have been fortunate

From tame squirrels that cross and change their mind in the middle of the street

To a mother opossum I am sure was scurrying with her babies in her pouch

To man's best friends the dogs and the cats

And even a turtle or a bird or two

And lately lots of toads

When it is in my power

To let them make it across the highway

On their way home

(written for Sandy our beloved white cocker spaniel in Portsmouth NH)