ankhst | Bist du bei mir

Well, Perdita's gone. We took her to the vet on Sunday. She was so sick and weak that she could barely walk, couldn't eat at all and hadn't purred properly in at at least a week.

Before we went she asked me to sing a song for her (long and complicated explanation of asking that I'd rather not go into right now):

Bist du bei mir
geh ich mit Freuden
zum sterben und zu meiner ruh.
Ach, wie vergnűgt wär so mein Ende,
es drűkten deine schőnen hände
mir die getreuen augen zu.

I had to get one of the other postgrads on my floor to translate it, cause I could see that the English words didn't quite match up. Apparently my cat understood German.

Roughly translated:
Are you with me?
Do I go with friends to my death and my rest?
Ah, how content would be my end
as your gentle hands close my faithful eyes.

After I sang it for her (badly, with plenty of missed notes and pauses to regain my breath), she climbed up onto my chest, gave me a 'kiss' and purred properly (but weakly) for the first time in ages.

I held her as they gave her the injection and cuddled her for about half an hour as she died and well after. Then I gently closed her faithful eyes.