The cat on my chest
shows me so much affection
while the jet planes
from the air base roar in the sky

The purring so close,
the warmth of the red-furred being,
the roaring in the lofty distance,
the freezing blue cold of the stratosphere

The cat's trust in me,
the nation's fear of nations

Emptiness shrouded
in our observations,
fingertips stroking red fur,
synapses lighting my conclusions

Lying on my back
under a heavy white quilt
in the Great Ship of Dreams upstairs
through late morning,
I'm spun into the purring of red-furred trust

Rebecca Solnit's Faraway Nearby resting,
face-down,
on my stomach;
cat smelling of squirrel adventures of night
in the coach-house;
me amazed at being so deeply loved
by this so shy individual,
fleeing everyone except Anna and myself

I, for one, shy away
in the privacy of my skin,
surfing the thought-stream down-life,
trying to fondle away
all my evil deeds
on the furry affection of this cat,
but they stand around me
like the stately ruins
of a Greek temple of Pallas Athena,
casting their long shadows
well into my after-life

Purring grainy
as an early morn
by a bleak northern coast
under flaky clouds
blowing in

Oh, could I preserve this moment
in a drop of amber...

My springy skeleton
soon to cast it's birdy shadow
over the topography
of the barren borderlands
of Hades

The migratory birds
over at the lake
preparing
to get the hell out;

The cat on my chest
feverishly cleaning himself
of the night's dust

Life a flickering time-out