poem: Cat in an Empty Apartment

Found this recently, rather touching

'Cat in an Empty Apartment'

Die-you can't do that to a cat.
Since what can a cat do
in an empty apartment?
Climb the walls?
Rub up against the furniture?
Nothing seems different here,
but nothing is the same.
Nothing has been moved,
but there's more space.
And at nighttime no lamps are lit.

Footsteps on the staircase,
but they're new ones.
The hand that puts fish on the saucer
has changed, too.

Something doesn't start
at its usual time.
Something doesn't happen
as it should.
Someone was always, always here,
then suddenly disappeared
and stubbornly stays disappeared.

Every closet has been examined.
Every shelf has been explored.
Excavations under the carpet turned up nothing.
A commandment was even broken,
papers scattered everywhere.
What remains to be done.
Just sleep and wait.

Just wait till he turns up,
just let him show his face.
Will he ever get a lesson
on what not to do to a cat.
Sidle toward him
as if unwilling
and ever so slow
on visibly offended paws,
and no leaps or squeals at least to start.

-- Wislawa Szymborska
(Translated from the Polish by Joanna Maria Trzeciak)

Wow. It is verytouching but extremely sad.

Karen Chuplis wrote in message
...
Wow. It is verytouching but extremely sad.

That was definitely written by a cat lover who was acquainted with a cat who
sorely missed his/her hoomin!
Very touching, very accurate and observant about cat behavior. Almost moved
me to tears.

Melissa