All Souls Day: lover, cat, mother, son, child
Posted: November 2, 2011 Filed under: Alexander Best, English Comments Off on All Souls Day: lover, cat, mother, son, childAlexander Best
To my Estranged, on the Death of a Cat
Her spirit, yes.
Intensely I loved it; the years flew, and
occasional fur.
And the body that housed her spirit, that little body
– I loved her body, too.
Wake me she would, by
soft-claw botheration of eyelids; she,
guardian of my sleeping eyes.
And if it pleased her to
walk over my face to get to her bowl
– well, she walked over me.
Where are you, vanished lover? Untouchable fact who
even now lies in my bed. Once, you were a tender sprite;
and she was my Bastet *, exact and serene
– both of you my old souls.
That little animal’s death – where were you?
Remember, my barren life when she came to me
from out of the tall grass? You were not there, but
remember still.
Met me at the train station, daintily crossing two sets of tracks;
led me home in a heart-made vehicle borne on gravel paws.
From her I knew patience and living in the moment; that
Beauty kills, then Life is renewed via licks of the tongue – a
miniature slice of sandpaper-ham.
To have known such a creature!
We bury a childhood friend,
We bury a father,
We bury distinctive old ladies,
We bury a cat.
Must we also bury love?
* Bastet – Cat-goddess of ancient Egypt
_____
D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930)
“Brooding Grief”
A yellow leaf from the darkness
Hops like a frog before me.
Why should I start and stand still?
I was watching the woman that bore me
Stretched in the brindled darkness
Of the sick-room, rigid with will
To die: and the quick leaf tore me
Back to this rainy swill
Of leaves and lamps and traffic mingled before me.
_____
An 18th-century Children’s prayer
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take.
Zócalo Poets 