“Soberanito”

By the side of a road
In a green plastic sack
A dog lay prostrate
Unresponsive
His back
In so many ways
Just lying there
Covered in flies
In the afternoon air

He was just about breathing
And skinny as hell
Clearly neglected
Just there where he’d fell
Hit by a car and just left to die
Who ever did this
You have to ask why
they would leave a poor animal
Lying in pain
Not stop to check
People are insane

He hadn’t known love
And little care
He was so skinny
And had been lying there
For some time it seems
I expect feeling low
When nobody loves you
You just wish to go
Just close your eyes
And drift off somewhere
So today he was found
And we became aware

Prostration and gloom
It’s a burden for sure
It’s easy to lay here
Flat out on the floor
Hoping perhaps to drift far away
To a place where the pain
And the stress goes away

We collected him
And took him to the veterinary
Who checked him all over
He was weak we could see
cleaned out his mouth and his ears
And his pain
And fed him and loved him
Again and again

Gave him water and food
And tried hard to cheer
To improve his spirits
And reduce his fear
Being injured and left
Does things to your head
And truly he may have
Been better off dead

Still we found him and helped him
And loved him a while
Walked him on the grass
He had some style
But was clearly weak
And very forlorn
Wishing in some ways
He had never been born

With trauma comes sadness
The doldrums can be
Testing for everyone
That much we see
Being down in the dumps
Giving up easily
In one’s heart of hearts
We all might agree

But with care and attention
For everyday
Love and affection
Healing they say
Does and can work
Miracles so
With time he felt better
And wanted to know

Wanted to walk a bit
Wanted to see
To breathe the fresh air
And come close to me
And others who helped him
And know we hope we
Can find a forever home
Yes hopefully.