I received this in an email from a firend and thought you would all
enjoy it.

I AM YOUR FERRET!

I am your ferret, and I have a little something I'd like to whisper in
your ear. I know that you humans lead busy lives. Some have to work,
some have children to raise. It always seems like you are running here
and there, often much too fast, often never noticing the truly grand
things in life.

Look down at me now, while you sit there at your computer. See the way
my dark brown eyes look at yours? They are slightly cloudy now. That
comes with age. The gray hairs are beginning to appear.

You smile at me; I see love in your eyes. What do you see in mine? Do
you see a spirit? A soul inside, who loves you as no other could in the
world? A spirit that would forgive all trespasses of prior wrong doing
for just a simple moment of your time? That is all I ask.

To slow down, if even for a few minutes to be with me. So many times
you have been saddened by the words you read on that screen, of others
of my kind, passing.

Sometimes we die young and oh so quickly, sometimes so suddenly it
wrenches your heart out of your throat. Sometimes, we age so slowly
before your eyes that you may not even seem to know until the very end,
when we look at you with grizzled muzzles and cataract clouded eyes.
Still the love is always there, even when we must take that long sleep,
to run free in a distant land.

I may not be here tomorrow; I may not be here next week. Someday you
will shed the water from your eyes, that humans have when deep grief
fills their souls, and you will be angry at yourself that you did not
have just "One more day" with me. Because I love you so, your sorrow
touches my spirit and grieves me. We have NOW, together.

So come, sit down here next to me on the floor, and look deep into my
eyes. What do you see? If you look hard and deep enough we will talk,
you and I, heart to heart.

Come to me not as "alpha" or as "trainer" or even "Mom or Dad," come
to me as a living soul and stroke my fur and let us look deep into one
another's eyes, and talk.

I may tell you something about the fun of running through tunnels, or I
may tell you something profound about myself, or even life in general.
You decided to have me in your life because you wanted a soul to share
such things with. Someone very different from you, and here I am.

I am a ferret, but I am alive. I feel emotion, I feel physical senses,
and I can revel in the differences of our spirits and souls. I do not
think of you as a "Ferret on two feet" -- I know what you are. You are
human, in all your quirkiness, and I love you still.

Now, come sit with me, on the floor. Enter my world, and let time slow
down if only for 15 minutes. Look deep into my eyes, and whisper to my
ears. Speak with your heart, with your joy and I will know your true
self. We may not have tomorrow, and life is oh so very short. --

Love, (on behalf of ferrets everywhere)

Author Unknown

[Moderator's note: Since the 100s of Google references to this poem
and its many variations for most animals all state the author is
unknown, I guess posting it is probably OK! BIG]

[Posted in FML 6782]