A poem from my new collection, All Weathers, for the SPCA, about to be published, featuring mainly dogs and cats but implying support for all animals – including, as here, rhinos. More details soon.

What we should have

A world run by rhinos, or dogs, or elephants –
a world based on heart and head, not intellect alone,
a world without guns.

‘Swords into ploughshares’ is the injunction,
but I’d like to see ‘guns into cameras’:
shoot all you want, but take only the image, never the life

and have the decency, the modesty,
the essential humanity to learn of peace
from rhinos, loyalty from dogs, intelligence
from elephants – and the meaning of love
from all of them.

Harry Owen