LVX CREARE

Where is your Mother, Little One?
Why has she left you here?
Tethered to this shady, silver tree
Does your Mother care?

She is with the smallest Children
Waiting in the safer heights
When the ground began to shake
Hurried there amidst the fright

Where is your Father, Little One?
Why has he left you here?
Bowl spilled, leash tangled
Water disappeared

He is watching over townsfolk
Serene and compassionate
When the thunder broke the silence
Thought of others first

Will they be back, Little One?
When the trembling stops?
Once the children home to dinner
After fervent panic drops?

They will always come back to me
Just as I come back to them
I am loyal, patient, waiting
They have never not returned

Where is your Mother, Little One?
Does she know you’re here?
Lying still upon the pavement
Does your Mother care?

She will call, then come to find me
Wrap me gently in her arms
Swaddle me in threadbare blanket
Place me there away from harm

And your Father, Little One?
When he comes to see?

He will sigh and fetch his tools
And lay me there so tenderly
Beneath the sturdy, steady branches
Of that shady, silver tree