Three Strays

A man can not ignore the need
To do what needs be done.
A man stands fast when faced with things that
Make a coward run.

But when the wind blows fortune
And he has the strength of limb,
A man stands fast when faced with chance to
Help those who need him.

You look at me with questions
In your sparkling, gentle eyes.
You wonder why I nurture you,
If this be but disguise?

I know not how to show you,
Purge your mind of doubt and worry.
But listen for a moment
As I tell a feline’s story.

A kitten crossed my threshold
After first November snow.
Bedraggled, starving, fleabit,
She regarded me with woe.

I took her up into my arm
And warmed her in my shirt.
She purred and promptly fell asleep.
Less kitten there than dirt.

A man must make decisions,
Must make fate obey commands
When he holds the life of such a one
In large and calloused hands.

Such a bit stood naught a chance
Against the winter chill.
And freedom, faced with such a plight
Would be a bitter pill.

The choices that remained to me
Were opposites in deed.
Her suffering was mine to end,
With death, or warmth and feed.

A man can not ignore the need
To do what needs be done.
A man stands fast when faced with things that
Make a coward run.

But when the wind blows fortune
And he has the strength of limb,
A man stands fast when faced with chance to
Help those who need him.

I sighed and set fresh straw and rags
Before the crackling fire.
Deposited the kitten,
Who mewled her feline ire.

She yawned and fell asleep
And since has been a stalwart friend.
She shares my cot and sleeps a lot
And mouses now and then.

But when I enter house and home
She greets me, all delight,
To see her master and her friend,
Come home and spend the night.

Her joy in life is mine to share,
At such a petty cost.
She gives much more than e’er she gets.
To him who banished frost.

And now I face another stray
Who shivers in her skin.
Abandoned, hungry, fearful,
Clothed in dust but good within.

I know you sense the master
Deep within this calloused skin
Deliberating carefully
To turn or take you in.

A man can not ignore the need
To do what needs be done.
A man stands fast when faced with things that
Make a coward run.

But when the wind blows fortune
And he has the strength of limb,
A man stands fast when faced with chance to
Help those who need him.

The kitten who dared cross my path
Rests there, upon the stairs.
Regarding you with happy eyes
Content, well fed, no cares.

Decisions that were made for one.
Must now be made for two.
And so, my dear, here now I stand,
And offer such to you.

And like a man who feeds a fire
To spare himself from night,
I nurture thee not for thy good
But for thy warmth and light.

You warm my soul and light my path.
You banish frost and pain.
And so, my dear, though stray you be,
You fill my heart again.

For one who is, himself, so lost,
Who wanders aimlessly.
Now rescue him, and take him in.
And save this man from me.

The three of us, all lost ourselves.
Can stop and cease to roam,
Can save each other, strays each one,
And make this place our home.

So take my hand and rescue me,
Though Master I may be,
The kitten, and then thou and I
Can rest, at last, all three.

A man can not ignore the need
To do what needs be done.
A man stands fast when faced with things that
Make a coward run.

But when the wind blows fortune
And he has the strength of limb,
A man stands fast when faced with chance to
Help those who need him.