Calling for the cat
at dusk -- stars emerge
one at a time.
Mittens, my first true feline friend, I will miss you. Your sapphire eyes, your six-toed paws, your fur as thick and dark as a seal's--I will never forget your strange beauty. When I came home to my apartment alone, you greeted me. When I was anxious and overworked, you lay down and napped with me. You voiced your complaints and requests in the flat, off-key tones of a Siamese, making me laugh whenever you talked to me. You will always be in my heart.
Haiku first published at A Hundred Gourds, September 2013
