The Present

We travelled a long way to find you
From the tropics to the gentler climes.
So small you were! A stuffed toy
Jumping off the shelf in your urge to be noticed
And that snout
Never still.
We brought you squealing
To your new home
Where you lay in lushness
Stunned out of existential horrors
Into a deep trough of luxury -
A pig in mud!
Things changed around you
Shadows on a house
Lengthened, trees crept upwards
Downwards, the hill fell into a creek bed.
And your shadow lengthened
Knee-high the chickens
We scurried with our plans
Which you kindly kept an eye on.
You exist
And your absence would be
A creek draining
The trees falling
A lack in the lushness.
Unthinkable. You grew with all the growth
Our plans became paradise...
"Oh yes, and Hamlet, of course."