Sunday Sunshine: The Love of a Child's Cat

Cat

My cat

is quiet.

She moves without a sound.

Sometimes she stretches herself into curving

on tiptoe.

Sometimes she crouches low

and creeping.

Sometimes she rubs herself against a chair,

and there

with a miew and miew

and a purrr  purrr  purrr

She curls up

and goes to sleep.

My cat

lives through a black hole

Under the house.

so one day I

crawled in after her.

And it was dark

and I sat

and didn't know

where to go.

And then-- 

round little lights

came moving...moving...toward me.

And there

with a miew and a miew

and a purr   purr   purr

My cat

rubbed soft against me.

And I knew

the lights

were MY CAT'S EYES

in the dark.

--Dorothy Baruch

1933