This cat's ear flinches with dream
He knows he can claw the quietude
And be mesmerized into a curl of rest
By no sound but the house buzz of air conditioning
Restrained warmth through fans and vents
And restrained light through screens
This cat is old.
When he walks to his food, he walks with a different time signature.
It once was the 4/4 of youth , now limping
punctuated with an extra beat
The same stumble for every destination
Food downstairs, drink upstairs, sleep anywhere.
But this cat can sleep in a picture window
Where some kind of light moves in different places at once
and can flicker with his thoughts
Whatever plunks on the surface from outside is at mind's reach
A hummingbird on the pane doesn't know he's in a phantom chase
with the beast behind glass.
And this cat is still old
But somewhere, he is moving.
1 comment:
Oh, burt. I like it- especially the first stanza, mainly the first two lines ( I like that you said WITH dream rather than in- nothing better than an unexpected preposition.)
Second stanza, I wish you'd keep going with the comparison of his walk to a time signature. Maybe just think about somewhere you could take it, somehow using maybe... some musical jargon. I don't know, it's good. I love the line about light moving, and the picture window. Let it stew for a bit then look at it again maybe for a clean way to tie it all up at the end, the easy sleep and the time signature and the light. But I like it as is also!
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