We have been together in other lives -
the cat and I.
Today he jumps up
and heavies himself onto my lap.
gazes at me with knowing eyes,
then settles to dream...
My mind drifts...
In Salem, winter is as bleak as our lives.
The weight of ice cracks strong trees.
His jet fur is glossy against snow,
eyes green as peridots.
I sew to earn enough to feed us
and we bother no one.
Our only offense is seeing
what others cannot see.
We are hunted in the wretched cold
but want no fire
to warm us to death...
In sleepy heat of the Pharoh's Egypt
he and I walk by the Nile
where I have been sent for water.
We cool our feet where papyrus grows
and lilies bloom as blue as his eyes.
My eyes are rimmed with kohl
to look like his -
his fur is dusky as my skin.
He catches rats in our fields of grain
and is sacred to my people.
A warm breeze envelops us
together forever...
He awakes, stretches
urgently cleans a hind paw -
and deep in his tongue-washed fur
I smell hot stones of Cheops.
