kitteh
you came to me haphazardly,
despite the odds,
filling perfectly a kitten shaped hole in my heart.
you were my sister’s cat first;
runt of the litter;
from a private stable in the middle of the canadian prairies.
squatter than other cats,
you walked funny and breathed funny,
and on the rare occasion you meowed it sounded more like a wheeze
it never seemed to bother you,
and I treasured how you turned adversity
into a lesson on how to make the most of life and thrive
one evening you didn’t come home.
I spent days walking the neighborhood calling for you.
it’s funny how loss brings love into stark relief.
my girlfriend found you, yowling pitifully
near a friends distant house. i am forever grateful
to the web of chance and interconnectedness that reunited us
you have been my most constant companion
on this crazy journey into adult hood,
across four provinces and four times as many years.
when I was at my lowest,
with all taste for life washed from my mouth by heartbreak
and the tides of childhood trauma, you saved me.
climbing onto my chest as i lay on the floor,
cat heart beating twice as fast as mine,
cat eyes asking, “Where have you been?” insisting softly, “Do not stray.”
when you were to old to accompany me on my travels
I left you with someone who loves you as much as I do,
and visited as often as I could
and you would greet me as though no time had passed,
as constant and amiable as ever.
what a gift your company has been.
And how precious it is now.
Thank you for everything.
