The Desert Mourn

The Khalahari Rose they call me,
Leader, warrior, mother...
I lived my life to it's fullest,
and as for my final choice, I wouldn't have made any other.

Over my family, I'll still watch them
As I've done since my first pup was born.
I did what I had to do in life and in death - no regrets.
So for me, please no longer mourn.

Dear Flower,

Thank you for being the kind of leader and mother that we should all aspire to be. No one said that life isn't full of tough decisions. We know that evicting your own daughters from the group was a hard thing to do, but it was necessary. You showed what a loving mother you truly are when you took in an abandoned pup. Leading your family in assaults on enemy burrows was part of what had to be done, but when it wasn't necessary, you showed you were truly compassionate. You were smart in battle, knew when to fight and when to run. You did it all for the sake of your family. What a true leader you were to keep such a large group together for so long. We'll miss you always, but we'll keep your lessons in our heart. God bless your wonderful family and thank you for allowing them to touch our hearts.

Still writing some "rhymes"... I can't seem to bring the pieces together into anything coherent though. Had to stop because it's been a week and it still brings tears to my eyes.


From my eyes a river flows,
The world has lost their favorite rose.

You ruled your family with an iron fist,
From today until forever you will be missed.

Most humans six times your size would have died,
Just hours after receiving that deadly bite
But for 48 painful hours you survived -
Always willing to put up your best fight.


The best tribute I can make to Flower is that she reminds me of my Grandpa. He died of liver cancer. He too looked death in the eye and said "I'm not going down without a fight!" It was torture to us to watch him suffer the way he did. His body in the end, was swollen to twice his normal size. It's a trauma that will never go away, even though it's been 10 years since his death. He was the rock of our family too and things have never been the same since. We're still a family, just different. Some of the infighting occurs now that he never would have put up with. He was just like Flower - the uncontested leader.

Life reflects life. She'll always be in my heart because my Grandpa will always be there. Thank you MM for bringing her into my life so she could set such a wonderful example for us all.

meerkat78, I enjoyed your tribute to Flower, it was beautiful. And hearing the story of your Grandpa touches my heart as well. I pray that you and your family are doing well. And you are right, Flower is a wonderful example that we can learn so much from. Thank you for sharing your story.

thanks for sharing , your story touches my heart to my father died of cancer Oct.12 ,2 years ago them mom passed 4 months later, your sharing helps me cope thank you , and thank you Flower for being Flower, the the Kalahari rose, thats a little 12 inch angel that walked the earth! Its her spririt thats bringing us all closer together!!

Tapirs and Meerkat78, I already asked Tapirs on their post but both of you, Please go to Flowers Tribute Letters at GoogolMeHere.com and write your poems. They are so sweet. Get in with Flowers email address on the Invitation from sponsor on home page. FlowersReach@aol.com Anyone else that wants to contribute is invited also. I am her first "Friend" and I made the first post. Hope to see you there. I think it would be awesome if we can get all the poems and letters in one place. Maybe a Book can be made, and the profits go to something for our beloved Meerkats. Who knows. And we can all contribute to it.