Alas! Foundling, of the, Persian spring
Four petite paws, straying in, despair
Sold to, a Lieutenant, for almost ‘nothing’
By an urchin, with tears, and a prayer!

‘Wojtek’ – Happy Warrior, he was named
By the, Polish soldiers’, martial rationale
A bear, with pain and love, was tamed
To be, a pawn, in man’s, game-fatale!

How the, World War groomed, a brute, benign
From an, unsullied soul, to a beast, of gore
What it takes, to cross, ‘the thin red line’
He learnt, from the, epic of death, called ‘war’!

The war, did die, with an armistice
Wojtek lingered on, to die, in a zoo
At last, reconciled with, manly malice
A Warrior Lost, In His, Spent Virtue!

© 2019 Vikas Chandra