I Loved You Best – poem

So this is where we part, My Friend, and you’ll run on, around the bend.
Gone from sight, but not from mind, new pleasures there you’ll surely find.

I will go on; I’ll find the strength, life measures quality, not its length.
One long embrace before you leave, share one last look, before I grieve.

There are others, that much is true, but they be they, and they aren’t you.
And I, fair, impartial, or so I thought, will remember well all you’ve taught.

Your place I’ll hold, you will be missed, the fur I stroked, the nose I kissed.
And as you journey to your final rest, take with you this…I loved you best.

Jim Willis