Cat

cat

i remember when you were a kitten!
big eyes, pointy ears, round-headed tiny body caged with other species waiting to be picked by yet another species...

you crawled and careened up my arm,
on foreign shoulder perched like birds you would one day hunt
a crackling shadow meowing behind curtain drawn windows
in front of speckled apartment glass.
(our bigger, safer cage.)

you wore socks then,
white socks we would never be able to remove.
you were hungry for my lap, hungry to be stroked,
just plain hungry.

now they tell me you are older than i
with cunning instincts given to a maturity i may never know,

you shed ferociously all over my most stunning black
and puke in hidden corners mocking mops, buckets, vacuums.

your eyes watch me nude here wondering why i take off my fur just to put it back on again and again.

i love them those almond grass eyes, wet pink nose, dusty white socks...
the fact that you never beg
soft purr sleep above my head
treating me to your presence when i command it least.

you are solitary warmth, my imaginary friend come to life,
my choice
a creature of whim, fancy, fickle-tude...
semi-vicious beast shaped domestic subjugated to my care.
and when you die, as all things do,
i will erect a shrine to you in my head greater than the sphinx.