“Next please!” Called my father, country vet extraordinaire,
And up stood a little boy with a mop of curly hair.
He hesitated, feeling sad, not knowing how to say
That he had brought his tortoise in to be put down that day.
My father saw the boy’s distress and gently took the pet,
And said it wouldn’t feel a thing ~ the boy was not to fret.
Though once the door was safely closed, my father scratched his head.
(The problem with a tortoise is…it’s hard to make them dead!
With a metabolic rate so slow that most things will not work,
One has to be inventive to overcome this quirk).
And so he did the best thing for that tough-shelled quadruped:
He injected local round its neck and cut-off the beastie’s head.
Having put the two bits in the bin, he opened up the door ...
And found the lad still waiting there, to ask for one thing more.
My startled father swallowed hard as the boy explained his wish…
He asked to have his dear pet back, to bury beside his fish.
Once more that door was firmly closed; the poor dead beast retrieved:
Dad quickly sewed its head back on and hoped he’d be believed
When he gave it to the little boy all nicely wrapped in cloth,
And told him that his beloved pet had quietly nodded off!
Author notes
This is an anecdotal tale about my Veterinary Surgeon father.
In a list
A contest entry
- BRING Y0UR BEST by DAMSELx.
600 points, ended February 11, 2008, 38 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - I Need A Laugh by Blooming Poet.
300 points, ended April 29, 2008, 21 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Story-Telling Poems by cover fire hero.
600 points, ended May 8, 2008, 11 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 25 of 25
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I have to admit i am getting addicted to your work. Is there anything i can take to let me live a normal life again?
Excellent
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Thanks so much fo
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Fabulous write. Just finished reading your limericks on the 7 sins and figured I'd see what else you'd penned. Came across this one and am glad I did. Great story. Had the build up and then funny ending without sacrificing the rhythm and rhyming or the emotion. Lines line "a mop of curly hair" and "He hesitated" paint a vivid picture of a kid tentatively waiting in the vets office (or any office including the principals
The poem carried in it the sadness that comes with saying goodbye to a friend, which a nice dose of humor, so typically caused by the "little boy with a mop of curly hair" making a perfectly innocent request. Once again, a great read, thanks for posting it.
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Aww this is very sweet. Recently we had to put our pup to sleep and it was so hard to do. The vet was very kind. It's good to see vets take their jobs so seriously. Your father probably gave that boy a gift he's take along with him for life. Very nice.
~*GirlWithTheMostCake*~ -
Thanks from Lou...
Some kind soul has put this poem up on the Rewarding page. I've no idea who did this, but just in case they should drop by this message ~ THANK YOU
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It was really sweet of you, and I do appreciate the thought behind it.
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Such a beautiful piece. This really touched me. The flow was so amazing that the entire poem just fell out in perfect order. THanks so much for sharing. Love and Peace, Charlene.
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The ingenuity here, with which this was written, was clever, but full of heart. Very clever, and great storytelling. What could be sad, turned into poignant and hope-filled humor. It shows the lengths of what we would do to make a child happy!
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THIS WAS AMAZING. i am currently in vet school, and the one thing i am not looking forward to is euthanizing animals. i really respect your father, he sounds like an amazing man. this is my favorite poem that i have yet read on my short time on AP. thank you very much for sharing and writing such a wonderful poem. you have a perfect flow, and there was not one awkward part. youre a great writer.
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I don't know... should I be crying ot laughing?! 
I guess laughing... This was a really well-written poem and an interesting story... I love this... you mad genius!
Keep it up!
Annie 
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a very good poem. I am glad I read it. thanks for sharing. Keep up the great work. Best of wishes to you. good luck in all that you do....peace always in all ways. You rock....
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That was morbidly hillarious, I found myself laughing despite the sadness of this connundrum. With rhymes and a certain flow to go along with the veterinary delight, you have given the reader something to think about and most likely tell coworkers. Quite good I say. Thanks for sharing.
Jim
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well written, but i failed to see the humour (i could see it was intendid to be funny) but i thought it was sad. I guess we all see and feel differently to writing as our hearts and minds dictate. I liked it by the way.
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Wow!!!
verry funny!!! When I got to the end, the full visual came to me so clearly, it almost gave me brain freeze!!
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aww lol Im so happy that someone was able to come up with a humorous way to put down a pet. Its no laughing matter.. i know i just went through it...
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This certainly goes back a few years. What parents, whether they are vets or not, don't do for their children! Made interesting reading - easy to read and understand. Because it was perosnal, even more so.
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The needle and thread is one set of tools that will never be outdated, I laughed and then tried not to as I have a tortoise, and hell if someone did that I'd be a little peeved, but you gotta do, what you gotta do, right LOL
Fantastic
Karen -
Hehe. Poor turtle. I like the rhyming scheme! I thought it would be sad when I first read the first few lines and the title(not the category, lol), but then I read on. Nice write!
Oh, and thanks for commenting on Friends Forever.
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Thanks, Robin ~ much appreciated! Here's to you, too...Yours in rhyme. Lou x
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Very good.
Good rhyme and rhythm, and humourous too - just about everything I like in poetry.
Well deserving of the clap, so, here it is!
Robin. -
Thanks for your support. Much appreciated. In fact, it's a true story about my Dad, which although sad, was so unusual as to be absurd and rather funny!
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Great, funny read! I suprisingly enjoyed it alot, and animals are so precious to me, but this was done with humour, and it was very well written. Well done! xx
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Yikes, what a predicament. I wondered why the boy wanted his tortoise put down. Anyway, I'm with chasingtheday, thank goodness for sewing kits.
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excellent
Incredible story. I was certainly cought up in it. Good poem, be sure to keep writing. I found this an interesting piece, thanks! food for thot. ...fierce and fascinating...
really enjoyed how you played with your message, kind of hiding it yet making it obvious, or so thats how i understood it, outstanding write.
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very funny! very twisted! hehehe
i have this huge smile on my face right now!! this was so well penned, so well rhymed which has given it a great flow and a certain rythm that certainly was a plus!
very easy to read and very humorous!!!
great job!!!
~rana~ -
thank the lord for sewing kits i say! you just never know when you will need one in an emergency. spill ink and twist me into the crazy shape of love...
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