An Ode to Poe

Written By: David Stroud - Cashiers-Highlands Humane Society | Issue: July 2024 | Photograph By: Marty Boone

Once upon a September dreary, while they pondered, weak and weary,

Three eight-week-old kittens were left with nowhere to go.

Found abandoned in Highlands and saved by a Good Samaritan

Were the scared and hungry youngsters named Edgar, Allan and Poe.

In their short lives all they felt were sadness, fear and woe,

And what little did they know.

Ah, distinctly we remember when last year in September

Those kittens’ fur like fiery embers first appeared at our front door.

Eagerly we pampered and we cared and unconditional love we shared

And our hearts swelled as we watched them prance across the floor.

A life complete it seemed, like something from a dream… or

Might there be just something more.

The kittens, they grew stronger; their shyness seemed no longer,

“Sir,” said we, “or Madam, truly your adoption we implore;

They’ve done so well in coping and we honestly were hoping

That when you were so kind to walk inside our shelter’s door,

That maybe, just perhaps maybe, was the day we’ve been hoping for.”

Yet again, there was nothing more.

The fall became the winter and then came the promise of the spring,

But every passing day would bring the same questions as before,

Where is the forever home for Poe and when will he be adopted,

And what day will he enjoy all the love that lies in store?

Not today, an echo murmured back, a whisper not a roar,

Merely this and nothing more.

Poe and his brothers Edgar and Allen are now 11 months of age,

Not a day spent in a cage and during all this time no tussles or nor

So much as a disagreement with other cats in their cageless room.

Caring for handsome Poe and his siblings has never been a chore

And because of all our love and caring, the scars those brothers wore

Are forgotten from their hearts, no more.

To the shelter pets like Poe for whom we provide a second chance to live,

Good health and hope we give when their outlook was quite poor,

We never stop believing and loving, and the animals who we care for

Want for nothing, and this commitment coming from our very core:

We will always be the voice for the voiceless for the creatures we adore,

Until homeless animals are… Nevermore.

Established in 1987, Cashiers-Highlands Humane Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit animal welfare organization located at 200 Gable Drive in Sapphire, 1 ½ miles east of the Cashiers Ingles in between Cedar Creek Club and Lonesome Valley on Highway 64. Our no-kill shelter is open Tuesday-Saturday 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.. For more information, call (828) 743-5752 or email [email protected]. Tax-deductible donations to support our lifesaving work can be mailed to: CHHS, P.O. Box 638, Cashiers, NC 28717.