Félicette (in honor of the first cat to go to space)

Félicette 

 Félicette,                               Félicette. 

Though back                        then you 

never knew a name.

Oh, to be a cat

swept off the lonely streets,

into the arms of a white-coated man

who promised you everything.

To be a cat called by a number, 

Trained and disdained, but at least you

were free from the gutters. 

Sent into the embrace of the night sky, 

In the name of honor. 

Was the darkness more beautiful, 

I wonder, 

than the unforgiving

world you were

born into?