Feeling ghosts around me today
Shadows of cats I have known
Feline ghosts, I call them,
Cats who have made this their home.
Sometimes I feel the gentleness
Of soft fur nestled close in my arms
And it seems I can hear the soft purring
Of remembered kitty cat charms
I see them move through the shadows
Just a glimpse, then out of my sight
Sometimes it’s the white tail tipping
That I see in the dark of the night
The movements are quiet and fleeting
I see them at nighttime and day
Just figments of my imagination
Grayson, Annie, or Ollie at play.
They knew this house was their castle
They reigned in each room where they played
They slept when they wanted and ate all they could
Feline memories stay close, they don’t fade.
It’s autumn that I really miss them
When hickory nuts start to fall
I can see kitty faces so precious
In the windows that line up my wall
The hickory tree looks in the windows
As squirrels dash ‘round to and fro
As if they can see kitty faces,
It’s almost as if they too know
That these windows have entertained kitties
For hours each seasonal fall
As they watched the gatherers searching
For the nuts from the big tree so tall.
Wise animals of God’s great creation
Know winter is soon coming on
They know they must harvest quickly
E’er their food supply will be gone.
So under each leaf they searched carefully
While kitty eyes watched them with care
Tails switching and noses pressed closely
Wishing they too could be there.
As squirrels clutching precious food parcels
Scampered quickly up hickory tree bark
In the afternoon sun they labored
Knowing it soon would grow dark.
Then jumping from tree branch to roof top
They carried their bounty away
While kitty cats watched them intently
Through the late summer’s last shining ray
And sometimes the squirrels dropped them gently
Then chased them the length of the roof
Kitty ears would turn up at the signal
While still trying to look so aloof.
A house without cats feels so lonely
Especially in winters so cold
A cat is affection wrapped up in soft fur
But to a house, the cat is the soul.
So the shadows I see moving quickly
Just out of the reach of my eyes
Don’t scare me, but only remind me
That the soul of a cat never dies.
Copyright Joan Hart Oct 28, 2015
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