It had to happen. 
Fluffy has found another home.
He came to us suddenly one night, 
Stayed, but left again each night to roam 
In our neighbourhood. 

My recurring fear was that
He would be stolen; a worse dread
That some callous driver would 
Hit him in the dark, leave him dead
In our neighbourhood.

God grants life, then takes it away.
He sports by breathing dark fears alive. 
Fluffy was found this morning, stiffened, cold.
He had spent four years of his feline five
in our neighbourhood. 

We dirtied his Persian coat with earth, 
Curled his bushy, unbrushed tail 
Within a cramped shallow grave. 
His footfall will nightly pad, without fail, 
In our neighbourhood. 

24.4.16