Echoes Of My Cat

Midnight prowls my cat

for a mouse in a vent.

Catch it before I scream,

before it skitters from under the counter.

But it will come now that you’re gone

because it delights

in your passing.

I don’t have your speed.

Old age took you.

None of us outlive it.

Even with nine lives

it stalked you all along.

Your snuggles and purrs

I feel them, hear them still.

Meal companion and watchdog,

you ruled our sanctuary.

The house echoes

with your ghostly call

and will haunt me until I’m done.

Why don’t mice ever age?