At six and half her smile was shy,
Her voice was soft and low,
Her lost look made you wonder why,
Her speech was hesitant, slow.

Manita’s home was sprawling, grand,
Managed strictly by none other
Than the one with who ruled with an iron hand,
Her proud and arrogant mother.

With her flashing gems and painted lips,
An embodiment of perfection,
Her well-shaped, glossy finger-tips
Were worthy of inspection!

In her domain she reigned supreme,
Her maids were wont to wither,
For a speck of dust would make her scream,
And drive them hither, thither.

In her plush office four stories high,
It isn’t hard to fathom,
Why they’d bow and scrape as she sailed by
And respectfully call her ‘Madam’.

She bullied her daughter all the while,
Don’t believe me, ask anybody!
Never spared the rod, never spared the child,
She constantly coerced her to study.

She had to learn all her tables by heart,
Memorise words for dictation,
Everything perfect from Numbers to Art,
To quench her mother’s ambition.

Her marks were scrutinised one by one,
At the end of an examination,
Harsh, unspeakable things were done
In the name of education.

You can torment a body and a mind,
You can’t take imagination away,
Manita found shelter from humankind,
In an animal world every day.

She chirped and sang to the birds in the lawn,
She carefully collected the scraps
From her plate to feed the street dogs forlorn,
She freed the mice from their traps.

The cows in the field lowed lovingly
As she passed with a bird on each shoulder,
Worms wriggled behind her in obvious glee,
Dragonflies kissed her cheek growing bolder.

She dreamed of a dog all furry and brown,
One she could call her own,
Something to wrap her arms around,
But mother’s views on the subject were known.

It happened one dark and stormy night
Their car broke down near a wood.
Mother and daughter saw a ray of light,
Hurried as quick as they could.

They found themselves in the strangest place,
Surrounded by severe trees,
Though the rain lashed at a nightmarish pace,
Not a leaf dared stir in the breeze.

There were scores of animals all around,
Not a single one looked pleased.
They gnashed their teeth and pawed the ground,
Advanced in twos and threes.

The woman shrieked and tried to run,
It’s amazing but it’s true.
Their legs turned to lead, they weighed a ton,
There was nothing they could do.

‘Halt!’ barked a voice, the animals froze,
The child stared unafraid.
It was her furry dog with specs on his nose,
And a judge’s wig on his head.

She marvelled at his enormous size,
He towered above all the others,
He scanned a paper with intelligent eyes,
And glared at the cowering mother.

‘You’re sentenced to die!’ he pronounced coldly,
‘The verdict is in this report.
Your crime is so base we can’t set you free,
You stand guilty in Animal Court!’

‘But why, your honour?’ she whispered in fear,
The judge recoiled as if stung.
‘You’ve broken the law we hold most dear,
You’ve failed to protect your young!’

‘You call yourself human, we think you’re so wild,
You can’t qualify for our zoo.
When you can’t provide love for your only child,
What use is your life to you?’

‘You prize your so-called superior mind’,
Said the dog, ‘but I’ll have my say,
Too long you have enslaved my kind,
I’m finally having my day!’

‘Charge!’ roared the judge. ‘In war all is fair!’
‘Stop!’ screamed the child, ‘I won’t let you!’
The power of love turned her feet to air,
She sprang to her mother’s rescue.

There followed a flash of blue lightning,
They found themselves back in the car,
Gone was the scene so frightening,
Yet it left a permanent scar.

No more did Manita want her own pet,
Her mother became her best friend.
And her mother says she cannot forget
That it’s never too late to mend.

For the flash of lightning from above,
Had coloured her hair snow white,
A reminder forever of the lesson of love,
She had learnt that fateful night.