Herb

To My Dearest Herb: I waited a year. We looked and looked and looked for you. No matter the odds and the impossibility of finding you, I fully hoped and expected each day that the next rock or log or grass mound or hole I looked in or under, there you would be. There you would be and we would all marvel and rejoice in your adventure. Then winter came. I waited it out, confident that you were deep beneath the earth, warm and safe. Spring came and I launched my search anew. Then summer was here and the one year anniversary of your escape. Finally, after the 12th full moon, I bathed in the moonlight and accepted your loss. There was nothing left to do, nothing I could do, and so I admitted a bitter defeat. I thought we would grow old together, that it would be just you and me after the girls left, but you wanted your freedom more, no matter the cost. And so it is. I do not know if you were born free, but I do know that you are now. Alive or dead, you are free and there is nothing in this world that I would do to keep that from you. It is how it should be. It is exactly the way that it is supposed to be, no matter how sad I am and always will be at your going away. I wrote you this poem, and this is how I choose to remember you, in my mind's eye. I will always love and miss you. Thank you for the years we were blessed to have you with us.

HERB

I see you
in my mind's eye
walking away
on your chubby little legs
the whole world before you
going nowhere in particular
just away, explorging.

I see you
in my mind's eye
under a log somewhere
watching the sun come up
eating grass
being happy
if tortoises are happy.

I see you
in my mind's eye
everyday
and I will see you
and think of you
and wonder
and hope
that you are all right
and happy
somewhere
in the world
if tortoises are happy.