Molly Mettam 2008
£1000 Winner!

Animal Antics Winners

Molly Mettam from Derbyshire is our £1000

Here is the Winning Poem

‘Benjamin!’
Say his name and he will come.

Fetch him from his deepest sleep,
From all his animal desires,
From all his wild, instinctive ways,
Say his name and he is there!

Though just a puppy he would come,
Small and square and self-contained,
Yet would he frown and trot to see
If Benjamin were he!
Though just a puppy he would come,
But that was curiosity
Because his unexploited heart
Had not then learnt to love.

Though all his past is untamed, free,
From earliest beginnings,
Now all of this has ceased to be
See in his eyes, his soul shines through,
One great, unquestioning love for you.

He lies before the dying fire,
That still gleams amber in his eyes,
As in his rough, rumbustious days
When his great strength
Was yours to prize.
His heavy, sculptured head is low,
His questing muzzle still.
Uncomprehending mists
Dull the agile canine mind.
You cannot long be with him now,
You cannot tell him why.
You cannot tell him how you feel
Now that he soon must die.
Ben, Ben, Benny, Benjamin,
Though death calls loudly all around,
Speak his name; your call is louder,
A spark still kindles at the sound.

Call him for he always comes,
Call him from eternity,
Call him, never let him go,
What canine Heaven can he know
When all his life is you and you are here, below?

Benjamin,
Say his name and he will come.
Your voice, his name,
Are all he knows,
And all he’s wished to know.

Molly Mettam

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If you would like to enter your animal poem in to next year’s competition, please post your poem to Animal Antics 2009, Forward Press, Remus House, Coltsfoot Drive, Peterborough PE2 9JX. Alternatively you can email your poem to inbox@forwardpress.co.uk. Please ensure your name and address are on the poem and any photos of your pet you send to accompany the poem.

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