His temperament was steady, manner mild,
A marvel to all strangers who came by,
He warmly welcomed each approaching child,
Befriended anyone who caught his eye.
A dozen and two years he saw go past,
Entrenched he was in the roll of our kin.
So many of the clan did he outlast,
And many new offspring he welcomed in.
Towards the end of his long life we saw
His limbs were withered, his black fur turned grey.
It pains to grasp that one you so adore
Will in mere months decline and fade away.
Now snow falls thick above his once-warm head.
Here not forgotten, though forever dead.
UPDATE (21st February)
I have updated Homework Direct for the first time in well over four years to include the process by which Monty on the Green came about.
Robin Stanley Taylor 