POETRY FOR THE ANIMALS

The Miracle of Life

...

"Come quick, come quick", their mother said
"The time is getting near"
She feels that when the kittens come
the children should be here.
She told them that a big orange Tom
took "Kitty" as his wife
"It's wonderful, a gift from God,
the miracle of life"
At half a year young "Kitty" feels
too painful and too scared
to appreciate six miracles,
blind-eyed and yellow haired.
But she knows these lives depend on her
and nature tells her how
and as she cleans them, children ask
"Mom, can we go now?"
But now and then for six more weeks
the children visit her
to play with six new magic toys
made of life and fur.
The six weeks pass, the newness gone
and new homes yet unfound,
Mom bundles up six miracles
and takes them to the pound,
Where lovingly, with gentle hands
and no tears left to cry,
the shelter workers kiss them once
and take them off to die.
And "Momma Kitty" now shes called
mourns her loss and then,
she's put outside, and of course
she's pregnant once again.
Dad tells "Kitty" STOP THIS NOW
or you won't live here long!
but deep inside of Momma Cat,
this time something's wrong.
Too young, too small, too often bred
now nature's gone awry,
Momma Kitty feels it too
and she crawls off to die.
She too is freed from this cruel world
and from her time of strife.
How harsh the truth, how high the price
this "Miracle of Life"?
-By Barry Taylor, DVM