For Shams [September 2025]

Silent paws at night,
you curled close when I was lost--
warmth steadied my breath.

Years blurred into ash,
yet your small heartbeat endured,
calling me back home.

I poured out the dark,
but your eyes, green lanterns, held
a promise of dawn.

Drug haze slipped away,
I chose the living instead--
you purred, and I stayed.

Now the world is softer,
because one creature believed
I was worth the fight.