"Human Rescue"

There's a chap I know
Not very well
Just in passing
Bumped into him today
And we had a brief chat
Little of this, something of that
Oh his way home
Dogs on a lead
What he told me
Made my heart bleed.
Don't know much about his past
But he has been on the streets
Now he goes round in a van
Helping the homeless when he can.
He long since got a roof
Over his head
Luxury of a mattress
For a bed
Now he gives up his time
To assist others
Ones forgotten
By even their mothers.
Now I'm not a person 
To be usually shocked
But even this
Had my sensitivities rocked.
His two dogs were adorable mutts
He told me their tale
Which wrenched my guts.
One of their pasts was hidden away
A Battersea bitch rescued one day.
But the other Staff cross
Shocked me to the core
He steamed into a house
And walked out the door.
He'd had a bell from a mate
About a four legged friend
In a shocking state.
Not on his doorstep but miles away
Even though it was Kent no delay.
I guess you've go in mind
An illegal dog fight
Or starved and beaten every night.
I'm going to tell you what occured
Couldn't believe what I'd heard
Make sure you're sitting down
To prepare you I'm duty bound
Don't want you hitting the floor
Which is what happened to my jaw.
If there had been a Jeremy Kyle for pets
Not even bookies would have taken bets
For this scenario is so unreal
It forced this bloke to go and steal.
From the hell of Rochester
To Bermondsey he run
Conscience was clear
The deed was done.
For the innocent mutt's home
WAS a Den of Crack
Why he barged in and took the dog back
It had TWO needles stuck in head
How could he leave it there for dead?
What makes someone inject a dog
Never been more agog.
After a life of crackhead hell
Now playfully slobbering all is well
Having been locked in a room
Going through doggy 'cold turkey'
Escaping from loyal doom.

Dulwich Poet 2nd April 2013

(Walking to Bermondsey station I bumped into someone I know, who had his two dogs with him. He told me they were rescue dogs, one from Battersea Dogs home; the other he got a tip off, & was rescued by himself from a crack den, in Rochester, in Kent, where the 'owner' had injected the dog with crack cocaine, as well as himself.)