Ferals

POOR TOM

(W Girt)

Poor Tom sits in his lonely pen sadly wondering why

Folk say 'Hello' and rub his ears, but always walk on by.

Nobody ever takes him home; small kittens come and go. While he is always left behind; just why, he'll never know.

Sometime he must have been a pet before he lost his home. Was he one more abandoned cat left wandering and alone?

Poor Tom, it's sad for older cats when life goes badly wrong. And facing an uncertain world they're left to struggle on.

THOUGHTS OF A FERAL

(Annette Easdon)

* Dedicated by the author to all the kind and caring people who give the lonely ferals a little care, a little love, and a little hope.

I sit beneath the bushes as she fills my dish each day,

I only venture out to eat when she has gone away,

I know it will upset her when I turn away and hide,

As every day she tries her best to get me by her side.

I wish that I could let her know that I don't want to run,

And hope that she will understand it's nothing that SHE's done.

I'd like to have her stroke me and pat my weary head,

But fear will overcome and I'll run and hide instead.

For all the kindly people who feed the strays each day,

I pray the Lord will care for them as they have cared for me.

THE STRAY

(W Mustoe)

He is battered and ugly, has fought in many battles,

And apparently lost them all - nobody wants him,

Nobody cares if a car reduces him

To a wet grey pulp to be cleared away and forgotten.

He is eternally wary, eternally hungry,

But food must be left in some anonymous corner,

Caresses repel him. Anything on two legs

Is hated and feared. Quite naturally of course,

He associates them with curses and kicks and stones.

I could weep for him. I cannot communicate -

The lines have vanished. To a cat, as to any creature,

A kindness may come too late - one kick too late.

"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That's the essence of inhumanity."

~ George Bernard Shaw