Tabby Back Home
The night falls heavy, a crushing mass
Burden upon burden as she cries
Her stomach twists, another empty night
Pasty mouth quivers, pasted clothes reek,
Huddles in a putrid alley, mouse-like,
Cats prowling through trashcans, fishing,
Over and around her they hunt endlessly,
Reminding her of Tabby back home.
She never even told her goodbye...
The bed-hopping, meal-grubbing best friend
Now sleeping soundly where she once laid,
Now eating regally what she once ate
Living finer than her old master now,
A fool with unfettered tongue, emotions,
Disrespectful and feeling disrespected
Once feeling caged and unloved, now free,
To eat from trash, to roam the streets,
To flee from two-legged cats flesh fishing
In blackened back alleys and vacant lots.
An unknowing princess, now an unknown pauper
Crushed beneath the heavy night
Burdened with loneliness and emptiness
Twisted with despair and hopelessness untold
Huddled in filth, while Tabby sleeps silently.
© June 14, 2000