You laid on my shoulder,
in my times of sorrow and my days of joy.
I held you when I mourned and when I danced.
I will miss your gentle lizard ways.
I will miss watching you gape in the sunlight,
and lift your spiky head to its rays.
I will miss how you gobbled up lettuce,
and live worms to chase.
I will miss gazing at your beautiful scales,
and looking into your reptile eyes.
I will miss you laying upon our kitty's back.
And how you lifted your tail up in the bath.
I will miss every season with you.
I will cherish every memory of you.
I thank God for the gift of you in my life
for nine precious years.
You were a comfort and a joy to me.
And I will miss you, Tom.
Oh, how I loved you.
My beloved dragon.

---"The lizard you may grasp with the hands, Yet it is in kings' palaces." (Proverbs 30:28)