Abandoning the Fox (Free verse)

When he came back home to find it all gone,

the little fox knew he had to search for his family.

So he pattered along in the dirt with his little paws

and set out on his journey.

He came across a family of eagles.

They welcomed him in, for the time being.

They thought he was special at first and they loved him for being different. They played with him and cared for him,

until he grew up a little too large.

They didn't like him anymore, afraid of the slyness he never had.

They soon left him too.

Disheartened by the abandonment, the fox continued on for his true family.

He trotted along by the coast and came upon a family of albatrosses.

They loved him too, at first. He was growing up some more and the fox matured into a wonderful hunter. The albatrosses were given more than plenty of food, thanks to the fox.

They were stuffed every day and they loved the fox.

But the fox couldn't stay.

The albatrosses needed to fly away.

When they found out that they fox could not follow,

they flew away without him, not caring for him anymore.

They no longer loved him,

knowing he could not hunt for them.

The fox felt more alone than ever. He was almost an adult and he could not find his family.

Nonetheless, he continued to trudge his way on the sodden path,

his black paws becoming dark brown.

He trudged and sludged his way, waiting for his family to come along. He knew it wasn't going to be that easy but a fox was allowed to dream.

The fox came across one more family; a family of hawks.

They were not like the other families. They made the fox laugh

and hunted with the fox.

They genuinely loved the fox.

They genuinely cared for the fox.

But the fox knew that he had to find his family, his true family.

He was about to leave, a frown heavy upon his little snout

when the hawks flew down and stopped him.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm off to find my true family."

"So.... where are you going?"

It took the fox a while to understand why one of the hawks asked him that question again.

Then it hit him.

Where was he going?

He had already found his true family.

He did not need the family of foxes that abandoned him.

Nor did he need the family of eagles and albatrosses that

ever so carelessly abandoned them.

He had finally found his home.