"Possum" September 20 1999
Cat
October Elegy
-- for Possum--
Sometimes I cry
softly for you---
not the swift heavy scythe
of new grief
not the sudden
jagged blade of emptiness
upon which I caught my throat the first time
when I came home and you weren't waiting for me
in the burgundy blue bedroom.
But sometimes
I cry softly slowly,
because I miss the tangerine velvet
of your ears the redemptive depth
of your cinnamon eyes
your orange creamsicle stripe of a tail
that I would thread through my hands
as you drank in your brief
but well-deserved luxury.
If I could say anything in the world
to you right now,
it would be "thank you"---
Thank you for letting me be your friend.
Thank you for sharing your ebullient soul
with me your stifling fear
that we somehow pieced
into trust long slow
stitches that we sewed
into a blue duvet of human comfort
in which I held you in your last days
on this earth.
Sitting in the sun
on the porch in our Baltimore courtyard,
you used to hug my legs,
wrap your paws around me and sigh
a sort of feline sigh
and now I hug your memory
tight to my heart
and I know that I'll see you again,
dear friend,
one day.
1 October 1999
Rebecca
| Possum |
| Rebecca |