Often when I awake, surrounded by purrs and fur,

their bodies wrapped around my torso,

their eyes as green as mine – I believe I am one of them.

I believe I can steal through the field and sit

beside a mouse hole until flesh is caught between

my claws. And the creatures big and small,

I hear them rumbling in the belly of the forest

they lead me to the corridor of a secret place,

tracking what others cannot see.

And my eyes they flare in the pitch of night and laps

they become free game and beds, they are all the same.

But it’s when I slink down alone beyond the path without

a care, no haunting memories or remorse, past the taunting

creek, through the black matted trees, I can finally

ignore the calls that are supposed to lead me home.

Published on April 21, 2023