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I live in
a shelter, alone in a cage,
With food, and a towel on which to sleep.
I'm small, with spiky fur, and of kitten age,
Folks come here looking for a friend to keep.
Some days others and myself are taken to a home,
A place where strangers live, but each is alone.
Once an old man caressed me gently, murmured, and sighed,
As his tears spilled to my shoulder from tightly closed
eyes.
We also went where there are machines and bright lights,
A big place for babies and children who are ill.
As each child checked us over it was hard to stay still,
To each patient was given the choice of us to pick,
A time for a while to forget they were sick.
I was brought to a girl, with hair the color of night;
With her hands she explored my body and face.
And her touch as fragile and intricate as lace,
She lifted me up so she could smell my fur.
I mewed and she smiled, then stroked me, and I purred.
She said, "I am blind, but you have made this moment
bright."
During the week many come to the pound,
Down each aisle they make the rounds.
Sometimes a kitten is chosen and homeward bound,
And even rarer, a lost loved one is found.
The last of summer passed, then gone, too, was fall,
No longer a kitten, I'd grown lanky and tall.
In the wintry months fewer folks came to call,
So the kittens were gone on a visit, but not us all.
Lonely, I watched shadows move at the end of the hall.
I fell asleep, dreaming of the visits I did make,
When my fur was spiky and my pads pink and small.
Then hands tenderly shook me and stirred me awake,
As a man carried me, he took my picture from the wall.
When he stepped outside, he wrapped a blanket 'round me,
Put me in the backseat of a car and drove away.
I sat up, wondering where we were -- trying to see,
But the windows were frosty, so back down I lay.
The car came to a stop and the man turned around,
His expression gentle, he took me out of the car.
He climbed some stairs, knocked, then opened a door;
He strode in and laid me in another man's arms.
I was hugged, caressed tenderly, and the old man sighed,
As his tears spilled to my shoulder from tightly closed
eyes.
???Thank you, my son! It is he, the one I had held before.
"Hey, fella! I'll bet you wondered where you were bound.
"Well, my furry friend, you need worry no more.
"In time for Christmas, you are -- and homeward found!"
Copyright 2005 Kathy Pippig Harris
kappi00@aim.com
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Kappi
http://pettalestogo.com/TravelTheLinks.html
The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the
body of each is different.
~ Hippocrates
And homeless near a thousand homes I stood,
And near a thousand tables pined and wanted food.
~ Wordsworth |
