Benji And Cleo And Flicka And Tigger And Daisy Poem by Diana van den Berg

It is strange how
Benji and Cleo
seem to be
in constant contact
with Daisy and Tigger and Flicka
who sent them to me
but, to the best of my knowledge,
could never have met them
in the flesh on Earth
or in spirit in Heaven.

There are strange and wonderful resemblances
not in looks but in their behaviour and natures
neither taught nor provoked by me
between Benji and Daisy
and between Cleo and Tigger
that I can’t explain with logic.

It feels to me that
Daisy is Benji’s mentor and guiding spirit
and Tigger is Cleo’s
and Flicka has a loving hoof
and muzzle
and eye
in it all too
for he was known at his living stables to adore
and be adored by
all people and animals,
but very especially dogs and cats
and had his special friends amongst them.

It is strangely beautiful too
how Benji and Cleo
didn’t have to learn to love and trust me.
They already did from the first moment
... as though knew...
as though they had been prepped
by my darlings Flicka and Tigger and Daisy already.
Actually, none of this is strange to me at all.
I am just trying to see it with an outsider’s eye.

(26 February 2011)