Where do the street dogs and cats come from?

Where do the street dogs and cats come from?

From hands that let go,

from eyes that chose not to see,

from a world that turned away

and called it destiny.

They are not guilty,

not shadows born of the street

they are hearts once held,

now left incomplete.

Do not name them strays,

as if they chose to be alone

they are souls abandoned,

still waiting for a home.

And still, they learn the language of survival

not because they want to,

but because they must.

They memorize footsteps

before they memorize names.

They learn which doors never open,

and which ones open only to close again.

Yet hope is a stubborn thing

in small bodies that have known too little kindness.

A street cat still purrs

when a gentle hand forgets to hurt.

A street dog still wags its tail

at the sound of a soft voice

as if memory could be rewritten in a moment.

They carry fragments of something older

a couch they once slept on,

a bowl that was filled without question,

a voice that once said “stay.”

And even when the world teaches them otherwise,

they do not fully forget how to trust.

That is what makes their story unbearable…

and sacred at the same time.

Because every time someone stops

beside a trembling body in the street,

something repairs itself

in places we cannot see.

Not all abandonments are final.

Not all endings stay endings.

Sometimes a hand returns.

Sometimes a home is rebuilt

out of something as simple

as choosing not to look away again.

@newgirldark