Thundering paws

Cascade down the narrow hallway

Colliding with every obstacle

Yet remain unyielding

Hurling through space and time

Like aliens adrift in the Milky Way

Barreling and bounding

With reckless abandon

Breathe grows ever heavier

Chasing air and tails

Scrambling for more

Step back or be trampled

Forty four paws of furry fury

Stampede to the next adventure….

Caution! When you pass the shelter

That I have carved out for myself

Under the thick and twisted jagged brush

I am a warrior out of survival

Caution! When you trap me in that cage

I slam my broken body against the smooth cold steel

I am a survivor and will be free again

Caution! When you pass my kennel

Bright lights and human hands make me cower

Yet I have a heart that can learn to trust again

Caution! When you stare into my face

My eyes are full of stories only a wounded soul can know

But this place with its warmth has given me hope and at last joy

Caution! When my new family promises me forever

Opens the door to greet me

I smile back at them and will knock them over with my love

If you had a friend

That didn’t have a home

Would you try and help them out

Or leave them on their own?

If you had a friend

Whose mother couldn’t cope

Would you offer up your help

Or simply wait and hope

If you knew a friend was starving

Didn’t have enough to eat

Would you offer up some comfort

Or watch their soul deplete

And if this friend had four legs

Instead of only two

Does that change how you would answer

Does it change what you would do?

You are my hero

You stand up for the weak

Give voices to those

Who themselves cannot speak

You are my hero

For you know what’s ahead

You’ll walk a trail of despair

No other would tread

You are my hero

For those images you keep

They may haunt you forever

And still make you weep

You are my hero

For all that you do

And you are their hero

And they thank you too

Angels masked as humans gather in the dusty lot

Long before the break of day

The sky a cold pale blue reminder

Of the tears they will not cry

Today

The road ahead is unforgiving

Long hours spent in anticipation

They arrive at their destination and the mood shifts

To that of the determination they will need

Today

Moments they think cannot be forgotten

Turn to hours that stretch long past any imagination

How many sad eyes have they seen?

How many souls that never had a chance?

Push on through the endlessness of

Today

Suddenly they find themselves in tomorrow

Back in that lonely truck

Carrying angels with memories no soul should bear

Down the long road home

Praying that they made a difference

And knowing they would make the same journey again

Tomorrow

The animals are what brought us here

So they have a place to forget fear

A haven safe from the world so bleak

From deeds we find it hard to speak

This world we built is safe and warm

A comfort from life’s raging storm

Though cold winds blow so harsh by night

Our animals have found the light

This place is just a stepping stone

To a new and happy loving home

Though some can’t be saved and are given sleep

They cross the rainbow bridge in love so deep

Our hearts are open night and day

And for each soul we simply pray

Find our haven safe and live

Our love forever will we give

At the moment I am sleeping – And I drift up out away

I feel your hands upon me – You are begging me to stay

I feel heavy in my heart – Your loneliness so clear

But I drift up out away – Though I still feel you near

I am standing on the river bed – In a place I know is home

Not the one you made for me – This one is just my own

My body feels so light – No more aches do I feel

I gaze up out away – Not a dream now, this is real

My old friends gather round me – I see mother and my kin

Her happiness bombards me – I feel her in my skin

I bound and play like old times – Chasing my delight

Forever in the sunshine – Forever in the light