The cat man of Aleppo (4)

The cat-saint says,” If I cannot follow him to the damp & dark

from which he comes, cradled first in the needle bed and rocks--

then then I'll know a cat’s terrible mystery--

the deep grimoire of his heart and need to twitch before the run,

the terrible solitude of all these things.

My whiny grimalkin with the slit-eye who calls me to the other side,

will tell me what damp & dark really are!”