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