Gratitude Poem by P K Joy

I’m now a sad street dog,
Subsisting on faeces and garbage.
I had been a pampered pet.
My master’s love I’ve enjoyed a lot.
Before long, my master died,
And soon thereafter his widow remarried.
The house and compound have been sold,
Things moved, and I’m left behind.
All day long I lie at this gate
In the night I search for something to eat.
The house is not inhabited.
It looks dreadfully haunted.
The beautiful garden has dried.
All the good plants have died.
Thirsty trees with drooping leaves
Mourn their fate through irregular heaves.
Gloom embracing frightful silence
Shades the house and stands in stillness,
As if to usher in the impending doom.
Is my master watching from his tomb?
Dartling bats and scampering rats
Are reigning the house and breeding their brats.
Huge bandicoots do roam in the compound
deep burrows they’ve made all around.
Snakes, wasps, spiders, thorny bushes
And scorpions prevent human access.
These adversaries I can’t now encounter
I’m weak. What to do, I ponder.
At nights I visit my master’s grave
And begs for strength which my body craves.
Once from the tomb he spoke. I heard
“Don’t you worry, the house has been sold
The buyer will guard it. You’d better
Shed your body and join me here.”
Yes, I will join him after my death.
Till then I want to live here and breathe
His body’s odor which lingers over here
And gives me the feeling that he’s somewhere near.
His soul’s company I can have later for ever
But his body’s odor may not last much longer!