THE ABANDONED DOG

She sat there by the road that day

The hours passed so slow

Now tired and hungry, all alone

With nowhere else to go.

 

How could they leave her by the road

They surely will return

For she is lost, can't find her way

There's dread at every turn.

 

The sounds of country fill the air

With chirping of a cricket

Bullfrogs jump into a pond

Beyond a thorny thicket.

 

Now comes the fear with setting sun

As patiently she waits

The shadows dark and ominous

Creep through the rustic gates.

 

Now dusk has come and all is still

As fireflies light the night

But for the hooting of an owl

There's nothing else in sight.

 

As dawn appears, the dew is thick

Along this barren road

She lies there cold and shivering

She carries quite a load.

 

But hours pass, another day

She is afraid to go

For if she waits a little while

Her family will soon show.

 

But little do the owners know

No one will take her in

She'll starve to death along the road

So hungry and so thin.

  

That very night her labor starts

Beneath the moon-lit skies

Her tiny puppies fade away

Another mother dies.

By Marilyn Ferguson