If I hide in a corner, if I close my eyes real tight, 
maybe this nightmare will be over, maybe my pain will end.

What did I do that was so very bad? 
Why did my owners put me down here all alone? 
It is cold and dark and I am lonely and sad.

Wait! A light! My eyes hurt! 
I blink! But she walks right by me with a box of stuff in her arms. 
Look at me! You used to love me and think I was cute!

I hurt so bad…I need food, water, soft beds, my cage cleaned, 
but most of all I need to play and get some hugs from my humans. 
She leaves. The lights go out. 

I crawl back into my corner and close my eyes. 
God please let this pain end soon. I am growing so weak.
Is it the same day or the next? I cannot tell. The light goes on. 

She's coming to me! She is picking me up and I am in a carrier now!
Oh my!Food!I eat very fast! I am so hungry.
  We arrive at a place. 

It is loud with barking dogs and people and bright with lights. 
I am scared. I feel sick. I ate too fast. I am back in a cage. 
Wait: mom! Don't leave without me! I am sorry I was bad. I won't do it again! 

Just let me dance for you one last time.
A person is coming towards me now with something in his hands. 
Food? No, a needle. They say I am too old, I am too thin. 

But a shelter would take me in. The needle hurts, but not so very much. 
I am leaving now, but I pray as I die that the next time around 
I will belong to someone with as much love in their hearts as I have in mine.