Early sunlight gilds your drowsy fur,
my small companion, sleeping by my feet.
Old friend, I’ve known you all your life,
beginning as two members of a family,
our lives diverged for some time in the middle,
when I set out to find a different way,
but here we are now, reunited
growing old together.
Your span has been a fraction of my own:
I saw you newborn, staggering blindly
to your mother’s teat,
her tiny double, prettiest of them all,
and now you are the elder, in my care.
I hold the power of life and death for you,
I try to hold you safe, to gauge your pain,
I hope your life is not a burden,
try to show you how much you are loved,
until the day when I must let you go.
Linda Rushby 18 April 2022
#NaPoWriMo #Cats
Southsea Storytellers 