I am stray

I am but a cat with no owner

With my paws and ears I have seen the entire world from the outside through others eyes

The warm inviting hands and the cold bitterness within them

The sweetness of the rain and the wrath of the sun

Houses that are not homes and homes that lack houses

But none of those held a place for me

Was this what it meant to be free?

No holds to bind me

No home to hold me

No hand to guide me

To wander the world as a stray with no place to stay

I once heard you beckon me over

Flinching I hesitated 

What would be offered this time?

A name

A voice 

A gentle hand

Cowardly still I flee from that warmth

Yet you did follow 

Yet I did not disappear 

I’ll always feel like a stray but I’d always come running when ever you call out my name