Street Dogs Maul 4year Old Pradeep In Hyderabad - When Mercy Lost Its Sanctity. Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

No eyelashes can ever prevent the tears
no mind can ever forget the horror;
no eyes shall ever look pitilessly
no heart will ever withdraw from melancholy;
no breath shall ever cease to heave a sigh
when they see that tragedy in Hyderabad
where a four year old boy was mauled by
a pack of stray dogs without any restraint
as the little boy struggled in vain to get away from
their jaws but their brutal attack was so
formidable as an innocent child never got to escape.

And when dogs are often trusted pets and companions,
can fate be so ruthless that as a little boy grows up,
he falls a prey to hungry stray dogs when a dog itself
is often considered as a best friend of human beings?
what was mother-nature doing at that moment?
could it not hear the barking dogs or the child's pleas
and alert the community in such hour of nervousness?
could no one hear the commotion
or could no one rush and save him;
could no one raise an alarm or a warning
as those beasts known as dogs were devouring
a little child as if it was their mid-day meal?

And if I ever hate any animal it is the dog,
as I once saw a dog bite my friend so ferociously
that it took months to fill the gaps and wounds;
and now as I have heard and seen what these dogs
have done to a little innocent child,
I will never want to know of any dog
neither I will ever forget how wicked they can be.

And to those parents of the little boy who lost his life
due to those street dogs biting him,
I pray to God that may courage fill their hearts
and as their days pass, may grief subside with time
as life is not an easy game when one loses a child
to such dog-menace and cruelty, it becomes
so deplorable and impossible to forget.
Yet, may solace and sympathy assist the families
of Pradeep to over-come the sorrow and pain
of losing their four year old boy
as the memory of such tragedy will be
perennially painful besides their dread for dogs
which I myself have never been able to overcome.