What Am I To You?

WHAT AM I TO YOU?

As a pup I dreamed and wondered

What life would hold in store

For ME, I thought, there's something GREAT

Beyond that kennel door.

Out there are needy people

And I have much to give

Love, and wit, and gentleness

To help them learn to live.

I'd be someone's protector,

Keep little ones from harm,

Or guide an old man's steps,

Or help to run a farm.

I'd run and bark and jump and play

With friends along a sandy shore

I'd roll in meadows, thick and green

That lie beyond that kennel door.

I lay here waiting, longing,

As the days and years went by,

My owner kept me fed and brushed,

But inside let me die.

I do not think of greatness now,

I'm old and filled with pain.

My owner has some ribbons,

But I have lived in vain.

I cannot think what could have been,

My dreams are filled with hope no more.

Just floors and walls and a broken heart

For me behind this kennel door.

-M. KummerM