Samwise
Early Spring 1979 — 31 October 1994
Dear God,
As the mother of Moses laid him in the reeds at the River’s edge, entrusting him wholly to your care because she could no longer keep him safe, so we lay Samwise at the shore of this reservoir. Keep him safe in your love until we come, and give us Grace to come when you call us, as Samwise eventually came whenever we called him. Forgive us those times when we did not love your pet as you would have us do, and accept our thanks for your having given him to us for his time on earth. We thank you for his lovable, curmudgeonly self, his sloth in the mornings even when he was a puppy, and his boundless, omnivorous appetite. We remember especially his independent spirit, as shown when he contininued hiking with John’s friends when John turned back because he was feeling ill. We thank you for his adaptability: he accompanied us from Texas to New Jersey to California. We thank you also for the animal shelter where we found him, the compassionate veterinarians and staff who helped us care for him, his human and canine friends, and all the creatures he loved to chase and eat. He was top dog all his life, even when his strength failed him. In his prime, Samwise was an athlete, passionately devoted to retrieving sticks thrown into lakes, especially this one. We leave his mortal remains here with this stick in memory of the sport he loved so much. We pray that he may join Frodo, and not mind Frodo’s pulling him into Heaven by his lips.