Stray In The Family - Poetry

Here I am a crossbreed
Not pure not pedigree
I don't belong to any breed
I have no papers to approve of me
I walk the streets, no owners to my name
Every day life is the same
I battle and struggle to survive
No one wants to say "that dog is mine"
Then one day someone shoes compassion only to my neck catch and tangle
By some stranger that was told I'm a vandal
They strap me in, in the back of their van
Caged, trapped I wonder my fate
In a world where I've seen so much hate
I'm placed in a strange prison
The noise is deafening
People come by and stare
I have no clue to what crime I've committed to be there
Then one day
Someone stops and stares
Somebody says "I want that one over there"
I jump and I plead "please don't harm me"
I try to be cute to appeal to their compassion within
Somebody gets a key, and they take me away
I hear someone say "here's your new family"
Could it be? Is my fate to change?
Now and here with someone strange?
I go on a journey, my nerves at a peak
At the back of the car I end up being sick
The stranger is patient and cleans it up real quick
He gives me a petting rather than hit me with a stick
We arrive at a mansion though he says his house is small
I pray its the only home I will ever know
Now I'm here
Grey and old
Wagging my tail with my stranger
My last days have come and gone
I'm living now on borrowed time
I jump on the sofa, a bit stiff and sore
I lay my head on my strangers lap once more
I take a sigh of gratitude
As I fade into another altitude
I lived a hard life that is for sure
But my stranger gave me a home
Somewhere I didn't feel alone
In my last moments
Moments of bliss
He was my family even if not part of the family tree
The lights go off in my mind
I'm gone now
But I lived my final days
Not as a pedigree or crossbreed
But as family

By Sheara Camacho
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device