A Stray Kitten, Never Known

Snowflake, you lie nameless
But Snowflake I call you.
So small and delicately beautiful
Stiffly sleeping
You are not breathing.
Your softness, contradicted by the cold
So young, unfairly robbed of life
Born only to melt away.
And your life, so short lived
Cannot have been so divine.
Your bones, showing through your skin
Malnourished, you sweet thing
Soon you would have died.
But, Snowflake, your end so swiftly came;
There must not have been any pain:
At least none so strong as
That of your hunger,
Snowflake, you poor sweet thing.
Had I been there, seen and known
There is a chance
You would have found a home.
I would have given you aid:
A place to stay
Where food would have been plentiful.
You never would have melted away,
And, Snowflake, I would have
Given you a name.