Astray

By Mikhail Harisingani

Ivory moonlight draped the malevolent skies,

as the quagmire splattered with the vehement rains.

In the pools of turbid groundwater,

Nobody noticed paw prints etching elegies into the dirt.

Rover, a stranded puppy had broken both leg and heart,

his once pristine white fur, now laced with mud and frost.

Jaundiced eyes strew tears that trickled down his face,

An opus of grief that no treats could rescind.

Somehow, hope yet lingered,

his resonance aching from unacknowledged howls,

Remaining devoted in irrefutable abandonment,

waiting desperately to hear his companion again.

The world turned its back on a calico kitten,

daytime winds her only company.

She frantically scrambled the vacant road,

her fragile paws husked by the scorched tarmac.

Whisker lost not only her toys, but the person who she played them with,

soaked in sorrow’s hues and prowling the empty space.

Meowing with all of her might at every sporadic car,

she curled into her empty stomach and surrendered to fatigue.

Her emerald eyes were lanterns, dim from despair,

hunger clawing at her ribs, and her legs ridden with cuts.

After longing for those soothing hands to pet her, 

she lost the light of faith.

A caged bird struggled,

encased no longer by iron but now by despair.

Ostracised from his loving family.

“Kiwi, Come back!” A young schoolboy cried,

as his grandma shunned the crow away from their window.

He was legally not a pet, sure,

but after sacrificing the food from his lunchbox,

They felt an unseen, but unbreakable bond.

Now roaming the untethered skies, 

he was shrouded by ceaseless grief.

Losing his haven to the everlasting Mumbai monsoons,

his talons soaked wet and heart remained damaged.

Animals bring radiant joy to our everyday lives, but not all companions reciprocate that love. Nearly 80,000 pets are abandoned in India each year, left to fend for themselves…

As a global community, we must end this cycle of neglect!

By Mikhail Harisingani