[ FC ] Hester

  
She was not a stray  
who decided to stay;    
I afforded her little say    
in the matter when giving away  
the shirt off my back---    
    
trapping    
cold beast under it    
as she wielded fire    
needle hot sharp    
---swiped, hissed, spit    
    
wrapping    
the ball of blackened    
tortoise shell fur upon snow    
contrasted    
   
A month passed before Hester    
finally warmed up to human    
contact    
   
And now, fifteen years later    
futile is resistance to feline    
cancer    
   
Wrestling her from my grasp    
possibly as I finish writing this    
---extreme weight loss---    
organ failure in progress    
   
preceded by a good life    
speckled with an on-again    
off-again affair engaging Trust    
   
often curled up in bed at my side    
or cradled between legs    
   
when not by her lonesome    
on a pillow topped dresser    
out of harm's way;    
   
hard to argue with one's    
threat assessments of yours    
or anyone else's intentions    
when the conversation is    
abandoned mid-meow    
in a fleeing of premises    
   
I never take it personally    
as far as cats are concerned;    
humans are a different story    
   
or were    
   
---suddenly is the dawning    
kitten darkened my doorstep    
that winter as a teacher    
educating me it shouldn't be    
   
I gave her everything I could    
   
and before this day is through    
I will again give the shirt off my back    
when releasing her to the wild