Ode to a Black and White cat
I have noticed you since I moved in.
I wondered who fed you.
I like to watch you tip toe across my backyard.
You always dart across the street.
I’ve thought of feeding you but you look well fed.
You come from under my neighbor’s house, or mine.
I’ve seen you on both sides of our street.
Yesterday, I saw you dead.
Blood pooled underneath you in the middle of the street.
I looked for my neighbor to get you out of the street.
When I went back inside someone took your lifeless body.
I found out who fed you.
My neighbor said the man across the street put food out for you.
Maybe he took care of the burial.
I know he will be sad that you are gone.
My neighbor was sorry to hear the news.
His son was hurt when I told him you had died.
I am sad.
You gave our little neighborhood a glimpse of joy.
Black and White cat, you will be missed.
January 7th, 2014 at 1:11 pm
Such a sad story (I almost said “tail” but decided too soon). Same thing happened to me about a year ago. Jack had a friend, mostly white w grey tabby markings, big and very dirty. He would never let me pet him but sometimes he’d hang out in the driveway while I played w Jack. One day I saw a dead cat on the grass beside Esplanade Ave across from CC’s. I wasn’t sure but thought it was Jack’s friend, and I guess it was because we never saw him again. Funny how attached we can get to neighborhood critters.
January 7th, 2014 at 2:44 pm
I actually was crying when I wrote that Graham – I don’t have any pets right now in my life sadly and the cat had all of “pets past love” vested in it. It was very sad.