Dog Poem

Once I was a lonely dog, just looking for a home.
> I had no place to go, no one to call my own.
> I wandered up and down the streets, in rain, in heat and snow.
> I ate whatever I could find, I was always on the go.
>
> My skin would itch, my feet were sore, my body ached with pain.
> And no one stopped to give a pat or to gently say my name.
> I never saw a loving glance, I was always on the run.
> For people thought that hurting me was really lots of fun.
>
> And then one day I heard a voice...so gentle, kind and sweet,
> And arms so soft reached down to me and took me off my feet.
> "No one again will hurt you" was whispered in my ear.
> "You'll have a home to call your own where you will know no fear."
>
> "You will be dry, you will be warm, you'll have enough to eat.
> And rest assured that when you sleep, your dreams will all be sweet."
> I was afraid I must admit, I've lived so long in fear.
> I can't remember when I let a human come so near.
>
> And as she tended to my wounds and bathed and brushed my fur
> She told me 'bout the rescue group and what it meant to her.
> She said, "We are a circle, a line that never ends.
> And in the center there is you protected by new friends."
>
> "And all around you are the ones that check the pounds,
> And those that share their home after you've been found."
> "And all the other folk are searching near and far.
> To find the perfect home for you, where you can be a star."
>
> She said, "There is a family, that's waiting patiently,
> and pretty soon we'll find them, just you wait and see."
> "And then they'll join our circle they'll help to make it grow,
> so there'll be room for more like you, who have no place to go."
>
> I waited very patiently, the days they came and went.
> Today's the day I thought, my family will be sent.
> Then just when I began to think it wasn't meant to be,
> there were people standing there, just gazing down at me.
>
> I knew them in a heart beat, I could tell they felt it too.
> They said, "We have been waiting for a special dog like you."
> Now every night I say a prayer to all the gods that be.
> "Thank you for the life I live and all you've given me.
>
> But most of all protect the dogs in the pound and on the street.
> And send a Rescue Person to lift them off their feet."
>
> -- Arlene Pace (September 18, 1998)