The Ones We ServeBook Two in the Cats, Dogs, and Critters with Tales seriesSome relationships are loud.The most important ones rarely are.The Ones We Serve is a collection of poems and reflections for older readers, exploring the quiet bonds between humans and the animals who share our lives-not as symbols, but as presences with their own weight and agency.These pieces move between working animals and companions, helpers and dependents, watchers and the watched. Some are grounded and serious, shaped by care, responsibility, and loss. Others lean gently into imagination, allowing animals to think, notice, or quietly judge in ways that feel uncomfortably familiar.This is not a sentimental book.It is a respectful one.The Ones We Serve reflects on duty, trust, loyalty, and the truth that service is rarely one-directional. In caring for them, we are often shaped just as much in return.