“It is the mind which creates the world around us,
And even though we stand side by side in the same place,
Someone else’s eyes will never see what is beheld by mine,
Their hearts will never stir to the emotions which touch mine.”
George Gissing
It’s been several long days now
Since Shadow has been sighted
My heart now aches at my failure
Several days ago, I was delighted
I had been very slowly gaining some trust
And now, he has vanished, without a trace
I stand here now, in the last place I saw him
Picturing his betrayed, forlorn, emaciated face
None of the shelters or the pound have him
He might have been run down, or poisoned
He might have joined a pack of feral brethren
I may now sadly never know how his story ends
After each and every failure, I feel like giving up
There are over a million ‘throw-aways’ a year now
We euthanize over five thousand of his kind, every day
But when I get the next call, I always keep going somehow
Perhaps, it’s my own pack of once forlorn, now happy, faces
Who always lovingly greet me at the door, when I return home
Tails all wagging, all giving me wet kisses, all sniffing my clothes
They always know if I’ve been in contact with an outcast on the roam
They can all immediately tell when I’ve had a bad day or night, out there
Being former outcasts themselves, they know that life on the street, is hell
They all take turns attempting to cheer me up, and very often, they succeed
They all instinctively know I need to think about successes, not in failure dwell
Several years ago, I never imagined I’d be spending my retirement, this way
I thought my spouse and I would be happily snuggled in our cabin on the lake
But my rescued outcasts, who always welcome the next orphan at our door
Have a unique way of reminding me, that these ‘left behinds’ I cannot forsake
Please Adopt - Don’t Shop
Spay and Neuter Your Pets
Safeguard and Treasure Them,
Each and Every Day and Night
©April 2012, Mr. Ed
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