A Spiritual And Inspirational Poem from All-Creatures.org

I saw you.
Not for the first time:
I had passed by you many times,
When I walked by the sea.
But that day I saw you,
And I knew you needed someone.
So though I feared you might bite me.
I came to visit you.

I saw you.
As I see many people.
Who pass by me on the sea path.
As I walk my strip of land,
I saw you come over.
And thought you had come to rescue me.
So I lay down on your feet,
And my heart was full of joy.

I wanted to rescue you.
It broke my heart to disappoint you.
And leave you tied up like a convict.
Though you had done nothing wrong.
All I could do was stroke you,
And tell you that I loved you.
And that while I still live here
I would come back again.

Why did you leave me?
Tied by this metal?
This cruel metal that will never let me be free?
I want to go with you.
I want to run beside you.
And to be your faithful companion
All my life long.

Every day I see you.
I have come to know you.
And we share a moment
That brightens both our days.
All I can do is stroke you.
And tell you that God loves you,
And that one day, one day,
We will both be free.

We were living in Cyprus at the time, in Paphos, which is a small town on the southern coast. My elder son and I had been talking about following the leadings of the Holy Spirit, and for some reason on Easter Saturday I and my husband decided to do a big litter sweep of the area along the coastal paths where we often walked. People had been throwing all kinds of rubbish into the vegetation growing beside the path, and it felt really good to collect big bags of rubbish and restore the place to its natural beauty. Then, on the way home, we went past a big black dog chained up near the edge of a field, and who we had often half-noticed. But this day the Holy Spirit told me to do something. The poem is about that encounter with the dog, and it is called "For Argos" because that is the name we later gave to the dog.