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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>THE CHOSEN<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Knowing I need her, she will <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>come to take me home,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Away from this place of steel and stress.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Others of my kind here<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Curl up tightly with eyes closed.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Some hiss and extend sharp claws,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Fear hiding their true natures.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Feline angels from her past<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Whisper of her preparations<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>For my rescue and homecoming.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Catnip mice and jugs of litter<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Fill a corner of a room<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Just as I will fill a space<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Carved into her heart by recent loss.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>She knows cats choose their humans<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And that I await her arrival.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>My head resting against my cage,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I will see her when she comes,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>And she will know me by<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The loving, rumbling purrs<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Welling up from my soul’s depths. By Sally Rosenthal<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>