Orphan

You chance upon her in the far reaches of the backyard a place you never go and there she trembles a tiny tiger in a blurred world secreted in shadows below blackthorn shrubs faint mews draw you closer the power of her vulnerability fills your veins with a pulse rising brimming you with a nectar needed like a dry stream bed restored by remedy rains how helpless she is with eyes just opened her eyes like skylights —translucent and filled with new wild blue innocence neglected yet beautiful you see the phenomenon of her will to live — her outsized feistiness belying such a petite package of need with teeny needle claws and protests the wisp of a hiss ... and you recall the bramble burr mockeries aimed at your inept childhood armor and voicelessness born a feral her mother likely lost to speed-wheels of a car or snap-jaws of coyotes whose throats float howls above black tree lines with the mist and moon it will never be known for sure and you wonder if she wonders if sweet milk purrs with soft belly fur will ever return to snuggle her she’s been cold and alone for far too long so you gather her in the hug of your hands curl your chest around her littleness a shield formed against her loneness— your long-ago-child lost in foster mazes is recognized and you decide not to let Nature take its course instead you sit with her swaddle her nourish her with a family flame alive in brick-warm-hearth as you heal the orphan within