Halloween Cats

 

source

Now that the trick or treaters have gone, and
I lit the candles, the cats of the past stop by.
Here is Pierette who lived to be nineteen,
and Miracle who lived to be twenty-two,
the first black and white as Pierro the clown
and the second a striped tortoise shell.  They
sit still as chess pieces, just washing their paws,
while Wicca and Red, the grey and the white
kittens, swat each other, and roll on the floor.
 
The cat in my lap, the black Mariah,
strains to leap away and hide from the strangers. 
Her twin didn’t show up.  And neither did you,
my friend, you who I hoped to see again. 
I taste salt in my smile, as I think of you
and I watching movies on this dark night.
Mariah’s fur stands up in the candle light, 
and I let her go.  The apparitions
are gone, but she sniffs the floor and yowls. 

Excerpted and revised from 31 October 2014. 

(Some of this happened.)

My blog poems are rough drafts.

Please respect my copyright.

© 2024 Susan L. Chast