TO FEEL THE SAND BENEATH MY FEET

To feel the sand beneath my feet,
T’is different now, no hounds to beat,
To take the time to stand and stare,
To pause, to sniff, and take the air,
To tremble now with joy, not fear,
To love this life I hold so dear,

Once instinct told me to survive,
To win the race and stay alive,
To focus on the task in hand,
Be fleet of foot upon the sand,
And run until my lungs would burst,
My only thought to come home first.

No time to dream, No time to play,
To wake each morn and dread the day,
To live with that uncertainty,
This day could be the last for me,
Not knowing, that’s the hardest part,
It tears and breaks this Greyhounds heart.

Yet here I am, this hour, this day,
The one that lost and walked away,
The one who asks the question why,
I should live whilst thousands die?

To feel the sand beneath my feet,
T’is different now, my life’s complete,
No longer haunted by my past,
This hapless hound is free at last,
No more a victim will I be,
Upon this beach beside the sea.

Written to celebrate the launch of Reach the Beach 2007