A True Gift
Watch New FilmWatch Mutual Rescue’s montages of photography, poetry, and music on the enduring spiritual bonds between companion dogs and cats and their people.
Grieving for his English bulldog, Haig, poet Robinson Jeffers wrote a timeless message of comfort in Haig’s voice.
Gabriel Spera’s poem “Silent Paws” imagines what a cat might want to tell us from the spirit world.
“The comfort of having a friend may be taken away, but not that of having had one.” — Seneca the Younger
For those who have loved and lost a companion animal, Mutual Rescue created two timeless messages from the spirits of a dog (“Still Yours”) and cat (“Silent Paws”). Through photography, poetry, and music, these Memorial Montages illustrate the enduring bonds between companion animals and their people.
“Still Yours” was inspired by Robinson Jeffers’ hauntingly beautiful poem “The House-Dog’s Grave (Haig, an English bulldog).” For “Silent Paws,” contemporary poet Gabriel Spera wrote from the perspective of a cat spirit comforting people in mourning.
The idea for the Memorial Montages came about when my mother, Joan Waas, had to say goodbye to her beloved dog Trevor and suddenly found herself alone, lonely, and depressed. About a year later, just as Mutual Rescue was finalizing “Still Yours,” she was visiting from out of state. Naturally, I wanted her to be the first to see the Memorial Montage she’d inspired. We watched together in silence. As it ended, she could not speak for some moments afterwards. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
When she returned home, she made a beeline to her local animal shelter, where a senior Australian cattle dog mix captured her heart. Zenzi had been found at a highway gas station during a severe thunderstorm. Still traumatized months later, she seemed so shy and despondent at the shelter that Joan adopted her. Together, they embarked on a new adventure in the twilight of their lives—just when each most needed the other.
Today, Zenzi is happy, secure, and no longer hides in the closet during thunderstorms. And Joan, with her watchful companion Zenzi always nearby, no longer feels isolated and lonely. “We are a Mutual Rescue story,” she tells everyone, beaming.