The Teddy Bear sat on the shelf
in a room unused
and untouched for many centuries,
This room was like a tomb
for the Teddy Bear,
He was destined
and
chained to stay,
He had had many owners,
some rich,
others poor,
But,
as he wore on in Life
he showed little age,
He kept that eternal smile for his customers,
He was loyal to whoever claimed him,
And never once did he try to break free.

Out there where Time stabbed on
the years wasted many lives away,
The Bear now was precariously perched upon
the forlorn thorn throne road,
His eyes were tired,
Wrinkles now began to appear on his face,
And for the first time
he felt himself starting to age,
He felt his heart weaken.

The Bear had so many secrets,
Some that could change
the very foundations of the world,
But who could he tell them to?
His lips were stitched shut,
And in his mind he pondered
and reflected upon his entire Life,
You know, he really never had a name,
People had named him so many different times
that he really never came to figure
out who he really was inside.

He looked at his arms,
They had patches of all sorts,
Down on his legs
he had pieces of fluff sprouting out
and he was missing his left eye,
Tears rained down inside,
But not a single drop appeared outside,
He truly was treated like a raggy raggedy rag doll
with not a care in the world.

He had endured so much over his Life span,
He was thrown at,
Shot at,
Hit at,
Stepped on
and other punishments
his memory had long forgotten now,
He felt his heart grow slow
as the years crawled on.

He never had had a family
or anybody to care for,
People loved him
until something new
and better came to replace him,
Then he was tossed to the back
of someplace chilly and old,
As he sat there
he thought about his past owners
and friends,
He thought now of days of the past
and of Ages forgotten,
Something which even a History book
was unable to grasp
or truly convey.

Death stood before the Bear sometime ago,
Poking at him
and mocking him,
But the Grim Reaper never lifted his scythe
to take his Life away,
The Bear waited for that moment to come,
But it never arrived,
It was as if Death himself had forgotten him,
And his life was meaningless,
Was he truly so worthless?

He rubbed his old
and tired eyes,
The Moon outside the window
lit up the autumnal room
as if it were a silvery day,
All around him were littered Toys
of a bygone Age,
Some were in great form
and others practically dead,
He looked, but didn’t have the ability to talk, only hear,
He felt alone,
All the Toys were asleep,
All except one -
The Teddy Bear.
He was sick of fighting to go on,
He had done his bit
and it was his time to move on.

A sudden rough gust of wind blew
into the untouched room,
He felt the air splash onto his face,
This apocalyptic wind was too strong
for the old stricken Teddy Bear to handle,
The briskly blowing breeze blew
him off the shelf,
But, luckily
he was able to grasp the ledge of the shelf
with his weak paws.

He hung there for his dear Life,
He wanted to call the other Toys for help,
He screamed inside,
But nothing was heard outside,
He had no voice,
He wanted to speak but was unable to do so,
Sadness swept over him,
He knew his time was up,
And the cycle must continue,

He let go...

The laws of gravity were rapidly put into motion,
He was about to meet Mistress Destiny
so his brain thought of the perfect thing to say,
He roared with all his might inside
to shout out what was racing around his mind,
But he was unsuccessful in his attempt,
The silent scream roared on in utter silence.

He hit the wooden floor softly,
And fluff flooded the area in which he fell,
Bits of the Bear lay all around,
The gust of air blew all over the floor,
And motes of dust danced by the light of the fading Moon,
The last remains of the Teddy Bear
were blown into a corner to be forgotten,
It was as if his remains
and all his innermost dreams
were crushed to dust,
But like dust he will one day rise again.

As soon as this event took place,
The Toy that was sitting next to him
suddenly awoke by the noise of the fatal fall,
He noticed his neighbour
was no longer present,
Happily, he stretched out his legs
into the area were once the Teddy Bear had sat,
And merrily drifted back into a deep sleep,
And then came the dreams of the Cosmos,
And the brave-hearted Bear did indeed have a voice,
In the nightmare of the sleeping Toy
the dear departed Bear spoke:

“We all are born for to die,
But tell me this -
Who is it amongst us that really lives?
Sleep now, gentle friend...
and I will sing you a song
spun from the dead tears
of my now forgotten soul."



©Rangzeb Hussain