The whites of her eyes flash
Toward the sounds outside the door.
The pounding of someone’s steps
Clopping up the stairs sends her body
Into trembles. Her leg aches in the place
Where the man struck her with his cane and left
Her family alone to die.
She remembers the pangs of hunger
And the freezing temperatures
That even snuggling couldn’t shoo away.
But when the door opens,
Her tail wags for the first time
All day. She bounds off the couch to greet
The girl who saved her life.
With kisses, she says hello and asks
Her to never leave again.