With all of the ongoing and seemingly never-ending, death and destruction in Palestine, I’ve been sad enough, but these past few weeks we’ve also been dealing with having to say our final goodbye’s to our best friend, Samuel Jones. Don’t know why we named him Samuel Jones, it literally popped into my head when we found him, so I decided that was his name. I believe he was telling me, telepathically, that was his name.

He was found in the park down the street from us when we were still living in Philly…rescued without anything on, no collar, no microchip, nothing…it was a cold rainy evening when our neighbor said he came out of the bushes and jumped into her arms, naked and afraid, like Brother From Another Planet. Cut to her calling me on the phone of course…knowing my dog addiction… and that pretty much was the end, he became second dog and little brother to our dog, Khalil, my Chocolate lab.

He lived to be about 17-18 years old. When we found him the vet said he was approximately 7-8 years old. We had a great 10 years with him. It’s been pretty difficult losing him, as he held a special place in our hearts, especially after the loss of our first dog. My wife and him were particularly bonded, he followed her everywhere…well, both of us adored the little bugger. First time in 21 years without a dog, but we are taking a break for a bit after this one.

PRINCE SAMUEL
You saved my life—
showed up when I was
in serious strife
Ain’t nobody gonna
tell me other—
you are my brother
A little fierce fighter
A story unknown
From no home to our home
feral, you roamed
But today—
you will never, ever ever
give up your knightly throne.
Rest in Peace my little knight!
© Jay Mora-Shihadeh

Leave a Reply