Arched black stripes 

and bright green eyes 

Weaving across the edge of a wall spilling between two delicate sides 

Not quite belonging 

but marching in all the same

Stepping between perfectly manufactured lawns

and overgrown trees 

Mottled pebbles on scattered dirt 

bending into the map of the world 

as it once was 

For time to speak stories of journeys embroidered in fabric 

Seconds bleeding into minutes

And I peer into a dark screen 

Wondering who goes here

And if they see the miracles of the sun too 

Head turned upright at echoing steps 

Only to find a waving hand 

Ordering me to leave 

Not here do I belong 

Not in even green and rows of bushes 

a place of bright red, blue, and purple

Noisy, bustling life I once had 

lost in claw marks at a cage 

with hands that reached in trying acceptance 

But they never let me into their hearts

They said I’m cold 

that I’ll never be man’s best friend

Did they ever give me that chance?

And now, I wander between yards 

hoping for someone to drop a morsel 

A hope that further descends with every instant

I know I’m myself 

I would do anything 

For a bowl of food unscrounged and a caring touch 

People in their gilded cages lock me out 

And lock themselves in 

And I’ll wander

Free to discover the wonders of the untamed world 

in suburban yards and crowds of ankles 

For small dots of meat and water leaking from a pipe 

It’s hard now but I’ll step forward in the quilt

To the next sinuous path