**Note**

The poems and stories you see here are not my creation, unless otherwise noted.  They are submitted by members & other readers.

 

“Born a Greyhound”

 

by Sue Stoddart

 

I sit here alone, looking all around

There’s no one about, not even a sound.

It’s night time you see, and it seems very late,

All I can do is sit here and wait.

Surely someone will come, and take me back home,

Why have they left me here all alone?

Did I do wrong when I ran my last race?

I tried my best, but I couldn’t keep up the pace.

Is that why they hit me, and kicked me about,

And called me bad names, and told me I was out?

I cowered as they tried to drag me around.

Why are they doing this?

 Because I’m a Greyhound.

I tried to say sorry, and lick at the hand

But that hand just grabbed me and threw me in a van.

They tied me to a tree and left me out here

And as I watched them drive off, my eyes filled with tears.

What did I do to them, other then give them my best?

They used to be pleased, and said I was better then the rest.

I tried to like them, in spite of their rough ways,

I was born a Greyhound, that is how we are treated most days.

Shut in dark, cold places, without another care.

The long cold nights were the hardest to bear.

So that is it then, they want me no more

And keeping me on would have been too much of a chore.

A new home for me will never be found,

And what was my crime, to be born a Greyhound.

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Old Drum

The best friend man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son, or daughter, that he has reared with loving care, may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and good name may become traitors to their faith. The money a man has he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our head.

The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog. A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground when the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only to be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince.

When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wing, and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.

If fortune drives his master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when that last scene of all comes, and death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there, by the graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true, even in death.”

(Senator George Graham Vest, speaking to a jury about his dog, Old Drum, shot in 1869)

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“Greyhounds Poem”

 

Submitted by Lu Vaughan

Written by Denise Dubarbier

 

I didn’t really want you, I wasn’t really sure

And I’ll admit I had my doubts, when you came through that door.

Not small or cute or fluffy with big soft puppy eyes,

But tall and thin and bony with bald pink bulging thighs.

You weren’t the kind I had in mind, not in any way,

Perhaps it would be better if I took you back today,

Before we know each other, it really won’t be kind

To keep you here for one more day and then to change my mind.

But against my better judgement I decided you could stay,

And quickly I discovered you were kind in every way.

Your gentleness and patience really stole the show.

“Why these dogs are wonderful, I must let others know!”

You’re my gentle giant, who just needed the chance,

To show us all what you could be, to wipe away that history,

Dispel our preconceptions, that put us all to shame,

And so we come to know and love what lies beneath that frame.

And now I’ve come to understand,

What I missed at the start,

That Greyhounds need that great deep chest,

To house their great big hearts.

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NOBODY’S DOG

 

Author Unknown

 

Today is the death day of nobody’s dog

Nothing will mark it but a note in the log

I’m faceless and nameless and no tears will fall

For I know in your world I have no worth at all

To you, my sweet someone, I’m a friend and a dear

We ran the wind daily and you held me so near

But the gate was left open – I chanced a walk on my own

I’d have cowered in fear if only I’d known

I know how you cried on the night that I strayed

I know how you searched, I know how you prayed

But I went a little too far far from our home

Where I crouched in despair in my kennel alone

I know that you phoned for I heard your dear voice

And I hoped you would hear me so I barked myself hoarse

Although I’m a Lab cross with stockings all white

On their form I’m a Staff cross – the description’s not right

So they said I’m not here and I sank to my bed

My kennel cough’s worse and I can’t raise my head

The rescue came yesterday but they hadn’t a place

For an un-neutered cross breed with his mucus-streaked face

If only you’d come to search for me here

You would have known me at once, you would have sensed I was near

You would have sorted my ills, you would have carried me home

And I promise our God no more would I roam

Now my eyes plead for mercy for my seven days are done

And I am waiting with dread for the final vet run

No arms will caress me as they inject me to death

No words will comfort me as I take my last breath

When the body man comes, it is fitting I’m found

In a bin bag in the freezer in the depths of the pound

Thrown away like the rubbish – no respect and no shame

Denied even the time to find you again

My loyalty and devotion they did cruelly betray

Without microchip or name tag, I’m a dispensable stray

Once waggy-tailed, once proud, beloved and free

Oh mom look with pain what mankind’s done to me!

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