An Ode to a Dying Cat

A cat sits on my porch everyday

With hardened jaws and a drooping face

Seems like he’s got something to say

Something very somber, that’s my guess

He’s rather old, and he seems very wise

And his eyes remind me of silent sages

Maybe he IS a saint in feline disguise

Conspiring against time through the ages !

Doesn’t move, though at times he winks

His whiskers quiver in the breeze

Our Lord in Heaven knows what he thinks

Oh senility, that dreadful disease !

The twilight bathes him in ashes and gold

As he sits like a statue, it makes me sigh

I stare at him and think of miseries untold

And that someday, this sad old cat shall die

Maybe he’s Macavity, repenting his crimes

Having given up his dark and evil ways

He gazes at the blank pages of the times

And seeks some peace in his last few days

With these flowing times the cat shall fade

Beyond those horizons, so tender and red

Or perhaps, deep into some silent night

He'll melt away in the motherly moonlight

Flowers shall bloom and flowers shall wilt

Empires shall fall, and new ones shall be built

Cats like these, they live, and then they die --

“Cast a cold eye on life, on death, horsemen, pass by”….