Rebecca Solnit says
in The Faraway Nearby
she sometimes thinks of the world as a work of art
that connects us all,
and yes,
I stroke the cat
and feel his soft fur
connecting me to the core
of whatever it is that is,
through the phenomenon of entanglement;
non-local connections
above and beneath time as well as space;
a beautiful sensation
setting off his high-pitch purring,
which is different from his low-pitch purring,
signaling a kind of bliss
that the more common low-pitch purring
doesn't reach,
his five kilos heavy on my chest
and his face tight
under my face

When he was young
he couldn't be completely trusted;
he was known to bite occasionally,
and I've gotten antibiotics
from his lashes once,
but now
when his of age,
he'd never harm you,
so he has full access
unto my face;
he lowers all defenses with me,
and I with him

Gunwald is a content cat
with a whole farm to roam,
accustomed to the ins and outs of it
better than anyone,
including the indoors of the main house,
where he comes to rest whole days sometimes,
after long and busy light nights out,
and in the long, cold winter,
when it gets into the – 30s C,
he's an indoorer if ever there was one,
almost in hibernation

He is quite old now,
though we don't know his age exactly
Someone threw him in a garbage can
when he was very young,
in the mid winter chill of Luleå,
way up north in Swedenland

Somebody else heard him meowing,
and pulled him out,
and then he stayed at the cat rescue center
in Boden town for nine long months,
until Anna chanced through the door
and fell in love,
some years before she and I would meet
on two consecutive mountain hikes,
and join our paths

Although he's an old boy now,
he's in great shape,
which can be said about me too,
so we'll see who will go first

If I'll be in a catless state,
I'll be in the dark of a cave
for long

I never think of him as a ”cat”;
but as the person that he is; Gunwald,
the same way I think about the horses
not as ”horses”,
but as Torre, Eldur, Moses,
and my wilderness wife Anna as Anna!

Gunwald shapes his life
according to the possibilities
of his genes
and their categorical imperatives,
and I simply support that,
making his moves smooth
and easy,
and in- and outdoors readily available,
which provides him a freedom
that has brought him right up close,
physically and mentally,
and changed the chord of my life
into a just intonation
which would deteriorate
and fall apart
without him

This feels like a message
of forgiveness, too,
from the land of ancient evil deeds
of mine,
sent by Avalokiteshvara,
the Bodhisattva of Compassion,
right into my 2020 face
with the light touch
of unconditional love