Famous pet doctor, James Alfred Wight
Who, at 50 years of age, began to professionally write
Taking "James Herriot" as his pen name
Bought from a goalkeeper at a football game
Couldn't publish with the name he used as a vet
Self-promotion goes against professional etiquette
But he had a way with words
To write many funny blurbs
About his family, his friends, and their pets
His books then made their way on TV
A film, a sequel, and shows on the BBC
But the man was unflattered by his fame
After all, the critters still saw him the same!
I wake from a bad dream
Hey there new man
That’s what they said to me
Hey there how’s it been lately?
I stand, look and see
Elvis, Martin Luther King and John Lennon walk on by so casually.
Roy Orbison and Freddie Mercury harmonising with Liberace as the queen mother watches whilst sipping tea
As I walk what looks like on nothing
I see Winston Churchill talking with Audie Murphy as Lewis Collins stares at me
I say hello to Marylyn Monroe or Norma Jean as Tony Curtis politely corrects me
Burgess Meredith tells me to do push ups, James Mason steadies me. Richard Burton drinking with Roger Moore on one round table and on the table next to them John Thaw doing a crossword - difficultly!
I walk on aimlessly as I see Bruce Lee training ferociously. Clark Gable playing cards with Humphrey Bogart and General Custer sipping whiskey with Einstein, Herriot, Tolkien and Agatha Christie - something too mind bending to me!
I walk through some glass doors and a whole world of familiar faces turns to see.
I wake up suddenly.
I sit up and can’t believe how real that felt to me.
Slowly pacing a captive rail,
her gaze pierces beyond red stars
eyes with burnt ire, a tigress howls
bellowing through jungles afar;
As pride of theme parks, she deplores
the ropes leashing an alluring gait,
others like her, in silence weeps
on circus grounds, in king's estate...
Sleek beauty wrapped in orange-black
her linings torn as branded fur,
oh Sumatran lynx, endangered
as man becomes the beast, she prepares;
When nature guides a fired escape
towering leaps endure what’s wrong,
and moonlight scans bold tigress' maze
on fields where her spirit belongs.
-------------------------
"If having a soul means being able to feel love
and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
- James Herriot
Relate Your Poem To One Of These Quotes
Giorgio V's Contest
by nette onclaud
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