Yum Yum

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Yum Yum Death of a Service Dog There was a rainbow in the sky today. It had no colors, for you are breathless. You were the color in my world: my eyes, my legs, my heart, my joy. Gently, sweetly, calmly, you made my pain tolerable. You made me whole, not broken. You transformed a wheelchair into a tool to embrace living, instead of prison. I still hear you purring, openly content, as we rode in the wheelchair against the wind. You and I were one defining life. Softly you broke barriers everywhere. You taught the world to listen with new eyes and ears to the subtleties of disability. You delighted in the public that adored you, exclaiming, "Look, she's smiling." Yum Yum, I do not know how to move without you: how to cry without you. I do not know how to walk in the world without you: how to go on without you. I do not know who I am without you. Flowers are growing upside down. The oxygen is gone. Birds are deaf, squawking discordantly as one service dog is laid to rest with grateful sobs. The sun is down. The sky is black. Empty arms scream your name.