From All-Creatures.org

Animal Rights Poetry By Noël Sweeney

She fell down the Stairs

Although Jasmine and Jake
Were always on the take
They would never forsake
Their devoted pet Blake
Who was part of the family
Yet devotion did not pass
When seen by the local vet
Who raised a curious eye
As he examined her injuries
Peering at the clear screen
Shook his suspicious head
Given what he had seen
With a question that was lit
He could not ignore or forget
Evidence he could plainly see
A hidden history of Blake’s injuries

He asked them as a pair
They answered together
As if with a practised story
A politician’s sort of ‘sorry’
Glossing over the accident
Proving how much each one cared
Her injuries were too hard to bear
On the verge of their television tears
An Oscar performance well prepared
In unison ‘She fell down the stairs’

When the vet showed them the traces
Two faces went ashen as they could see
A glowing X-ray of her internal injuries

When Mabel first came to stay
She brightened up their every day
Yet in a short time things changed
They figured she seemed deranged
All she touched they had to rearrange
Her presence jangled on their nerves
Patience was less than she deserved
Patience vanished in a swift swerve
When they took Mabel to the hospital
The harassed doctor cast a critical eye
Her injuries were somewhat auspicious
The more he looked the more he was sure
The evidence was way beyond suspicious

He asked them as a pair
They answered together
As if with a practised story
A politician’s sort of ‘sorry’
Glossing over the accident
Proving how much each one cared
Her injuries were too hard to bear
On the verge of their television tears
An Oscar performance well prepared
In unison ‘She fell down the stairs’

When the doctor showed them the traces
Two faces went ashen as they could see
A glowing X-ray of her internal injuries

They could not wait to choose
A name for their new-born son
J-J brought an end to their blues
Shared their bliss with everyone
Until his crying wore them down
J-J fell out of the cot onto the floor
Somehow crawled out of the door
Jasmine was certain J-J had crawled
Yet Jake was certain J-J simply fell
When their stories did not quite gel
The room filled with a lurking smell

The vet met the doctor who met the cops
They met a judge who pulled out the stops
With him the truth could not be fudged
Analysed the evidence much as any burglary
Choosing each pinpointed point for the jury
Who then delivered their verdicts of ‘Guilty’

The misfortune of the falls
When nature and old age calls
Was brought into sharp focus
When they examined the locus
As she fell over her tortoiseshell
Together they tumbled as a pair
Granny and her pet on slippery stairs
Her worn slippers on their worn stairs
Head over heels caused them a scare
Nevertheless the doctor was quite fly
The judge was quick to probe and pry
Judging them with a certain gimlet eye

The jury heard the tale from the pair
Seeing through their story on the stairs
Judged their evidence stretched credence
Their tale of a peculiar repeat coincidence
Of an animal or child or vulnerable person
In a confined situation one always worsens
Reflected and convicted by the verdicts ‘Guilty’
After the verdicts the judge delivered wise advice
He trusted would be of value in future for a life:
‘Be wary and slow unless you live in a bungalow
If you see a smile signifying something sinister
Be sure to hold on for dear life to the banister
Beware of the danger of being caught unawares
By people loitering with intent at the top of stairs
Especially a pair claiming to care in their liar’s lair’

© Noel Sweeney, 2023

 

Go on to: The First Thing we do is let's Kill all the Lawyers
Return to: Poetry by Noël Sweeney
Read more at Animal Rights Poetry