There’s an old stray cat That lives around here And when I first noticed him He made me jump back in fear This old mangy cat Was half bald, and half blind He was missing one ear Not to mention one eye You could tell he used to be orange in color But years have erased his silky orange shine Now his coat is some type of faded brown So this old stray cat was about to be mine I needed to figure out how to catch him I needed a foolproof plan For this old cat was mighty clever And so my plot began I first tried to trap him Maybe find a great big net However when I tried it It soon became a regret See, this old orange cat was a fighter He was proud and he was strong He screamed and hissed and fought No one dare do him wrong He tore right out of that net And when he was finally free He was a blur of orange Quite the spectacle to see Despite my recent failure Did I give up? Heavens, no! I wrote up a new plan One this old cat could not overthrow This scrawny orange cat Couldn't afford to miss a meal He was all skin and bones Surely less than what is ideal So I tried feeding him Cheese, meat, and kibble But none of that seemed to work He didn’t take a bite, not even a nibble You see this old stray cat He was old and he was mean And when he looked you in the eye It was as if he saw something obscene He wrinkled his nose Squinted his eyes so small You would think he smelled something rotten It really made one feel small Yet I was determined I had come to love this old cat I wanted him in my house with me Where he could grow spoiled and oh so fat I’d grown used to our daily struggles It was a game of cat and mouse And I hoped that he would come around And eventually wander into my house This went on for months And might of continued for years If it hadn’t been for one thing I did Which was scratch behind his ears He would tap his foot In great approval I’ve come to think And would always come back for more And the space between us began to shrink I began to discover, began to realize This old cat, who had hated me Was not an old grump afterall He just needed TLC -Autumn Herring