My momma always told me not to take in strays.<\/p>\n
She said they take advantage of your kindness
\nand then leave you when they are healed.
\nI could never tell if she was talking about people or animals.
\nBut I guess I would learn that she meant both.
\nI ignored her advice when I found a wounded cat in the alley.
\nI gave it a name, fixed it up, fed it, clothed it, loved it.
\nI tried everything to make it happy.
\nBut just like she said, it hurt when I came home to an empty house.
\nIt had left me, disappeared, never to be found.
\nThat didn\u2019t stop me from taking in others, despite the endings always being the same.
\nSo when I met you, I don\u2019t know why I thought it would be any different.
\nI remember telling you that you reminded me of that cat.
\nJust like it, you cried out, hoping to be heard.
\nIn the vicious winds of that December night.
\nAnd just like it, you were beaten and broken, tossed out into the snow.
\nLeft by someone who wanted you to die, hidden away so no one would save you.
\nBut I did.
\nI heard your tunes and wrapped you in warmth.
\nAnd just like I did with the cat and many before,
\nI stitched the wounds close, took care of you, loved you.
\nKept you safe when you started to doze, and tried everything to make you happy.
\nBut something was different.
\nYour laugh lit up my heart and for the first time,
\nI felt something different from the love of before.
\nYou started the flame within me, and I wanted nothing more than to keep you close.<\/p>\n
However, you were too similar to that cat,
\nBecause I came home one night to an empty house
\nAnd that damn silence,
\nThat soon fills with my mother’s words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rose Vilanova My momma always told me not to take in strays. She said they take advantage of your kindness and then leave you when they are healed. I could never tell if she was talking about people or animals. But I guess I would learn that she meant both. I ignored her advice when… <\/p>\n