In Heaven I hope
I will be greeted by all
those animals I apologized to:
dead and dusty armadillos on lonely Texas roads;
family dogs who never found their way back home;
 
cats, both feral and domesticated,
their midnight yowlings silenced,
groundhogs, now grounded forever,
dead deer,
stiff-legged raccoons,
squashed squirrels
post-mortal yet still odiferous skunks;
 
unlucky crows,
low-flying pigeons,
sad-eyed seagulls,
all of their flights cancelled.
 
I’m sorry you came to these dead ends,
these sudden stops,
these unforgiving macadam shoulders.
I’m sorry you are being pecked by scavengers,
rained on, run over, driven past.
 
Listen, this is my prayer for you -
that someday we will meet,
glorified and glorifying,
along that great highway in the sky
where no one is in too much of a hurry
to slow down and let you pass in peace
 
and where you will know me by my smile
at seeing all of you alive again
and going about your happy, animal ways.

© by Pat Brisson.
Used with the author’s permission.