Fainting Goat

Did you ever know how much your pain hurt me?

That it haunted my sleep?

That I tried to feel it?

That I cared even then?

I went to the LGBTQ+ youth center for the first time.

For a year 

I stared at the website, 

wanting nothing more than to go.

When I finally went, on a Wednesday,

I promised you I would always stay,

swore on a bond I thought would never break.

Then came a time everything conflict

but I meant every word, every bit of it.

The rain fell in steady sheets onto the sidewalk, and I shivered. Next to me, my friend Chloe glanced at her watch.

“Four minutes until they let us in.” she rubbed her arms. “It's really cold.”

"Please take care of my human," 

the old cat whispers to the kitten. 

"They are scarred and broken. 

Until my return, 

take care of my human." 

The kitten is listening attentively,