My Friend

“My Friend”
By
J. Ethridge

After supper, as the sun sunk low,
I took my Dolly for a stroll.
In the yard all alone,
I heard a cry I had not known.

It wasn’t a meow; it was a cry
coming from somewhere in the sky.
In the tree high above my head
came the cry of fear and dread.

A kitten had climbed the tree
so far away from you and me.
It needed help and I was there,
so up I climbed without a care.

Up, up, I went ‘til limbs that held me
turned into twigs that easily bent
as I reached the frightened kitten,
but by fear I was also smitten.

Terrified we held together,
suspended high into the air.
Out the door my Daddy came,
calling for me loud by name.

He heard my cries and found a ladder
to reach his daughter and stop the chatter.
Up the ladder to save his daughter,
up he came to end the matter.

Ten feet away he stopped his search,
the limbs would not support a higher perch.
The kitten, I and even Dad began to cry
at the failure of his try.

Then the dirty, lean and ornery neighbor boy
who no one liked or held in favor,
heard the commotion,
without hesitation
jumped into motion.

Up the ladder sprang the lad,
near the top he passed my dad.
Onto the limbs that barely held his lanky frame
to me and the kitten, on he came.
Wrapped safely in his arm,
he passed us to Dad away from harm.
Now on ground and all is well,
I have a kitten and a story to tell.

The boy I thought was lean and mean
became a friend who I thought was keen.

Ten years have passed; the cat is old,
but safely in my fold,
while the boy’s hand I dearly hold.
I’ve learned not to judge
what meets the eye,
but to see
how they respond to the cry.