On the Way
On the way to growing up
I kneeled in a farmyard
near an old Connecticut town
pellet gun in hand
sighting a sleeping feline
curled around a fence
Henry the farmer's city son
beside me as I peered
softly purred instructions
to keep my purpose clear
Here the task before me
was to incapacitate a cat
unknowingly recumbent
and incidentally fat
with shot of great potential
to wound or swipe a life
A life but just a cat's
immobile in my sight
not I nor it or daylight
stirring as I set
The universe breathless
sensitive to a sneeze
poised to shift its purpose
should I in a breeze
lend a hand to chaos
needing but to squeeze
this trigger near my heart
and break the puss apart
Which I did not
but put the weapon up
put aside that sight
seeing another setting
where cats belong all right
I could not hit the kitty
glad glad of that
returned the gun to Henry
saved two lives one the cat's
7/30-7/31/95, 1/26/98
Copyright 1998 by Maurice Leiter
Posted with permission.
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