The Next Day

poem from Honoring the Cats in My Life

I got up the next morning
and saw Socks
half sitting,
half standing
on the porch.
I opened the door
to let him in.
He said, “Meow, meow, meow, meow.”
I said, “Oh, did you come home last night
and I didn’t open the door for you?” I was asleep
and the window was closed.
I never heard him,
but he was quite upset with me.

Later that night,
I woke up feeling
two pressures on me.
One was against the top of my head—
it was the kitten
cuddling up to the hairiest
part of my body
as he would if he was
still with his biological mother.
The other pressure
was on my right arm.
I opened my eyes
and there was Socks
staring at me.
I went back to sleep.