The Kitten's Coat

Dusk was passing, and while admiring the colors,
those variations of green in the banana leaves
through the philodendron and amidst the jasmine's
blossoms, an old man became so engrossed
that he missed the moment sharp
when Darkness arrived.

Darkness -- the kitten's coat was endless sheen,
its pitch eclipsing rainbow hues with a brilliance
everlasting -- and through her love for this old man
she'd sponged and glossed her every hair, up
from front paws to phantom tail just for
that evening's meeting, and when her friend
leaned to his cane, she stole along the garden
wall as if to know one sound might break
on either leaf ot twig or snail
the strongest concentration.

And so the kitten crept and climbed, from ground
to rock to empty pot, onto a shelf of money plants
and through a maze of vines and string
until she reached like stairs past stars
the stone wall's top, her world's rough edge,
and with a leap of faith she then found shoulder
she'd been aiming for, she found the nape
and licked it dear, as old man slumped, as cane
fell clear, and through the night she held him there

That coat in all its brilliance ....