With every step she sang a traditional song,
A song she’d heard long ago as an elephant child,
A song she hadn’t thought about in quite awhile,
“As I travel on my way I’ll chant every word,
I’m too old to stay with the elephant herd,
The Elephant Graveyard will be my resting place,
No more lions or crocodiles will I face,
Death is close, I can feel it in my bones,
I must remember the placement of the stones,
Thousands of my ancestors have come this way,
I must join them, perhaps this very day,”
A gruff voice interrupted the elephant’s reverie,
“Where are you going? You can walk with me,”
She had not noticed the wild dog loping by her side,
He asked, “Do you need a friend in whom you can confide?”
He’d heard elephants go somewhere when they’re old or sick,
He was sly, that wild dog, and he thought of a trick,
“I only want to help you,” he said, “don’t get me wrong,
But didn’t I just hear you chanting a song?”
He urged her, “Perhaps your destination you’d like to share,”
“If I told you I’d have to stomp you,” she said with an angry stare,
He knew she was old and he lost his sense of fear,
But he made a mistake when he thought she couldn’t hear,
He mused aloud, “I know why she’s walking here all alone,
If I follow her, I could discover a lot of precious bones,
A veritable treasure trove I might share with my pack,
They’d have a lifetime supply, no bones would they lack,”
She listened carefully as he made his evil plan,
He didn’t care if it was the elephants’ sacred land,
By then she’d heard enough from that greedy dog,
She hurled him far, just like he was a tiny log,
Some say he never returned, nor did he ever die,
Some say he watches for bones way up in the sky,
They call him Sirius, the dog that once took flight,
Sirius, the Dog star, the brightest star at night.
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