Writing Assignment #9, Draft 3

Sestina
A young child is wandering and lost
Trapped in the entrails of the dark
A child crying and alone,
His cheeks smeared with grime
Wide hollow eyes drip with tears
Of confusion and fear of tomorrow.

Gaunt faces of the beggars are drawn in sorrow,
They feel for the child who has lost
Everything. His pitiful wail moves them to tears.
The poor watch him crouching in the darkness
Longing to reach out and hold him, despite the grime
But vanishing in remorse, unable to give up being alone.

The city street is empty now, the boy is a lone
Pitiful form. His shoulders hunch and shake in sorrow
His frail fingers attempt to wipe away the grime
But his hope is lost.
He sobs and falls into the dank dark
Drowning in his own dirty tears.

Blinking through eyelashes dewy with tears
The child sees a shadow wandering, a lone
Purring shadow of dark.
The cat peers up into the boys face drenched in sorrow
Sees the terror of being lost,
And starts to lick away the grime.

As a warm rough tongue dissolves the grime
The little boy stops his tears
He does not feel lost
He does not feel alone.
Away melts the worry and the panic and the sorrow
And new lights shine in the dark.

Together, walking in the silent dark,
Through the dust and the bones and the grim
Alleys, free of past cares and sorrow
Ivory lines on the boys grubby face, the tracks of tears,
Match the cat’s creamy stripes. They are no longer alone.
The child and the cat are side by side, lost.

But lost together, in the velvety dark
The sensations of grief and grime
Are different now, when shared. There are no more tears.