He sits out in the foliage staring at the house
Until I hear him in my mind - let the cat in!!
And I open the door to let him climb the back stairs
Winding around my legs and telling me loudly and
At length that it took me too long to hear him,
that it was cold - or snowing - or raining -
And that he wants me to pet him while he eats
And I can’t leave him to eat by himself, the poor thing,
Who got left outside ( where of course he begged to go an hour, two hours previously)
He has the whole neighborhood mapped out,
Which neighbors like cats and will feed him,
Which will let him in and pet him,
Who leaves for work in the morning and doesn’t mind a feline escort to the car, or the corner.
He comes along when we go walking, tail held high.
Once he got locked in the neighbor’s basement for a week.
We gave him up for lost, the local birds returned to the backyard,
The neighborhood hadn’t seen him.
A movement caught my eye while I stood asking the neighbor about it
The cat flattened against the basement window
Waving wildly at me and calling to me at the top of his lungs.
After a week of incarceration he was pale, his nose bleached of peach,
And he was more interested in staying in my arms than in food or water.
There must have been something, mice at least, for him to survive
A week without water. Even his orange stripes looked pale.
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