day 29: too many nicknames for one tag

No crown shone as golden
No mantle shimmered more
No title in this old house higher
Than the one you wore!

His Majesty of Many Names!
The Bard of Growling Tunes,
Duke of Counterintuitive Defense,
and Licker of All Wounds--

Driftwood cowered at your splashes,
Rivers hugged your mane
Every frightened guest would soon
thereafter praise your Name!

You grew up under garden sun
and blossomed with all of
light you reflected more times o’er,
that radiant beam, you Love.

I never knew you patient
‘til three years brought me home
and your ticking clock began to slow,
steadfast, knew you weren’t alone.

You were wiser to the last
than any of us knew.
There in the back, near lilac,
we built a shrine for you.

Bouncing to this world you came,
Lovelier to depart--
You are the reason no oth’r one
has yet close-claimed my heart.