TRACES Spring 2013 | Page 10

Angus (my dog)

Emily Baird

You are like my rock

You listen to everything I say

You are nothing like a jock

You are there wherever I lay

You may be furry

But you will comfort me in a hurry

We may go on walks

But you have never ever talked.

Friendship

Why Do You Stay?

By Lauren Downs

Do you feel pain when I hit you

Or when I rip at you with my sharp nails,

Tearing you out of your soft comfort?

Do you ever bruise when you are harmed?

Do you cry when you are left alone in your small dark crammed storage room?

You get beaten with bats,

Hit over and over

But yet you stay, why?

You get kicked in the dirt,

Tossed around,

Bashed against the dirt floor,

Thrown into fences,

Cut by glass,

Left out in the rain,

Left to rot outside,

Grass stained with no one to help you remove them.

You get bruised and hurt to the point you fall apart,

Then you fall apart…..

And get tossed aside like you are useless.

You become forgotten,

Becoming a dirty child neglected outside in the rain alone,

While another takes your spot in someone’s heart.

But, do you take comfort when I hold you tight?

Do you feel special when you are picked above the rest?

Do you love the cheer you hear when you do something good?

Do you love the thrill as you fly?

Do you find comfort when soft cushions surround you,

even if the leather binding rubs the wrong way?

Why stay?

Why do you endure this suffering?

Is it because of the good moments?

Why my dear softball? Why?