Death of a Beloved Cat
A Golden Shovel with lines from Stanley Kunitz’s “The Testing Tree”
He was a cat so smart we had in-
jokes only we two understood—a
sudden change, gaunt frame, the murderous
knock of loss opening an empty door time after time,
me, an old man, wondering where he goes after the
death we could not stop, after the heart
we loved had stilled, when his deathless spirit breaks
like a wave across my chest, I sink in my chair and
try to find the laugh we shared; it breaks
as I see him bounding up the stairs and
leaping to my call, for a moment he still lives,
and then he fades, and waves, one by
one, roll down my sorrow’s stair, breaking and breaking.
Author: Jefferson Singer
Photo: Pietro Schellino on Unsplash
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