move she makes recalling
her spooked leaping before her
cry before her painful illness on the floor
again today
She sleeps in a box in the hall and
she throws up there and we clean it up
and she goes back sleeping again in
my familiar old accessories too remembered
to remove.
For as long as she
continues to live our Agatha
gray, I pay attention to each one
I see of her bearing weight
on her lithe skeleton that is-was
so lithe as it was-was so long ago
and again, I wonder how many lives,
this sweet pet who saved everything
in her living as herself fighting as herself
grooming and overmuch as herself nervous
child cat I pay attention to our children
grown and no longer still longer ever will be
their own lives How many lives will they choose
to fight with groom through nervous overmuch (I hope not)
and look again (my oven is not a magic
wand) at the recipe for
butter cookies
this time planning
to pay attention
to every
second
Posted by nancy at August 24, 2009 03:11 PM