Our Hearts,

They start their chapter with us bringing bundles of play. Yet while we train them to fit our lives, they quietly teach us too – opening our hearts into a place to stay.

Not bound by rules we try to keep, but an internal law, not a spoken guide. They grow from playful antics that brighten to knowing when their presence lightens, they somehow know, even before we do, when it's time to be by our side.

A look a pause – that steady stare, the kind that sees what we don't share. A quiet care, so rare, so real. That meets us where we truly feel.

From bouncing greetings to gets us through the door, to gentle tail flicks with lazy side-eyes meeting our glance. From saying hello in their melody of meows, to bird-like chirps to say they know a touch, right before it's there. From galloping across fields to meet a return, to a wise and warming whinny that gently lulls into a trance.

They always knew before we did, yet still they gave us all they had.

The strong, sturdy loyalty in the grace of those who carry us and the sweet smell of field and hay. The deep and resonating purr, felt before it's even heard, to ground, calm and even thaw. The puppy-look gaze still there in aging eyes, centring us all the more with that wet nose and gentle paw.

For this and more – in them, we pray they'd stay.

They're magic, one and all, angels, big and small.

The loss of them never feels small at all.

A hoof, a paw, fur or feather – leaving prints across our hearts, memories to roam. They were only one of our chapters, yet we – their entire story. We're undeserving of them – their love and presence, remain unconditional. As guardian angels in disguise, with no want for glory. Forever a part of us, forever they'll have a home.

Our hearts –

their place to stay.