The Christmas Puppy

Many and many a year ago,
In a city bleak and dark,
A Christmas miracle began one night
With a hungry puppy’s bark.

He was too careless to mind his mom;
So one day in the chilly fall,
The puppy wandered away from her
And now had no home at all.

Alone he’d lived for weeks gone by
On what little food he found,
And several times he had just escaped
The catcher from the pound.

Until one night the shivering pup
Found nothing whatever to eat
As swirling snow began to fall
And settle at his feet.

The fright he felt was only matched
By his feeling of despair
As people stepped right over him
Without a thought or care.

At last the puppy faltered
As he neared a humble home
Where within a woman’s tears fell
As she knelt and prayed alone.

Precious little did the woman have
To give her much-loved son;
Her wages barely would buy his food
When each day’s work was done.

And now she waited with grieving heart
For the passing of the night,
For she had no gift to give her son
At Christmas morning light.

And as she knelt and prayed and hoped,
She heard a feeble bark;
So she rose and opened up the door
And looked into the dark.

Outside she found a sodden bundle
Of tangled puppy fur
With two big eyes with glistening tears
That fastened tight on her.

Unable to deny those big sad eyes
That looked at her with trust,
She brought the puppy into the house
Away from the cold wind’s gust.

Inside she settled him near the hearth
And warmed a precious cup
Of milk and oats with cooking fat
And watched him lap it up.

And then she brushed his golden fur
And fluffed it as it dried
And knew her prayers were answered
When she brought the pup inside.

Around his neck she tied a bow
(Of ribbon saved for years)
And rejoiced because her son would not
Wake up to grief and tears.

For now he’d have a Christmas puppy
To give him lots of joy,
And he would love the Christmas puppy
More than any Christmas toy.

Betty Killebrew

SOURCE:www.inspirationalarchive.com