CALL ME BELOVED

he used to fit in my hands, when we got him.
I remember him huddled in the corner of a box,
how I tried to soothe him on the long trip home.
he was a basement rabbit – he would scurry back
to the safety of the stairs when taken outside in the yard –
the very finite grassy patch and open sky more than enough
to incite that inclination of all rabbits to panic and run.

he loped slowly, bumped into doors and haphazard stacks
of cassettes, chewed through live lamp wires and otherwise
fulfilled all the duties of a rabbit – their natures are kind
and constantly seeking peace and stability, a trait
I greatly admire. he was my velveteen rabbit –
even the most timid visitors would stroke his oreo fur.
he liked this, I’m fairly sure.

he wasn’t the pet I was expecting – too dim to train
and too dangerous to leave unattended, exemplified
by dozens of feet of frayed wire and that nervous jitter
he never seemed to shake as a result. he was quiet
and possessing of a personality it took all eight years
to define – too subtle to state but easy enough to glean
if you watched him, followed his eyes as they stared
into space – listening to the dark corners of the basement
for whispers of that rabbit wisdom.

I wasn’t home when he was found in the morning
splayed out on his side – never one to rest
it was a sure sign something was amiss. he was interred
into a shoebox – a temporary vessel while the hole was dug,
dead weight in my hands while I watched and thought on him.
more poignant than my foolish scraps of disappointment in him
is the very real disappointment in myself – adopting him to my family
for all of the wrong reasons, leaving him caged for stretches
of time far too long & too often – an eight year hurt in my heart
and a nervous jitter that I’ll never shake.

out of the shoe box and into the ground – my brother
placed him down reverently, the curve of his back to me
as the dirt was replaced on top of him, a smooth flagstone
placed on the bare patch of earth.
we joked half-heartedly all night, finding it hard
to mourn for such a quiet, simple creature.
but as we walked inside the sudden finality of it and
his peace was a momentary balm to the ache I carry still.

he died an old rabbit, his duty fulfilled – hops and leaps
executed flawlessly, quick playful sprints across the carpet.
it was not in his power to meet my selfish teenage expectations
but it was in mine to provide a better life – a hard lesson
taught by one of the simplest of creatures, and
a bitter blessing that I will never lose sight of.