I wanted to say thank you to those commenting on my blog.  It is so exhilarating to see a comment has been left!  Not too long ago I solicited for a title of a shorter version of my collection and, thank you Nancy, I think that your answer is a good fit.  I did not make that deadline, but I am looking for new ones to meet.  I did make another deadline that day though, and I am constantly encouraged by my ever inspiring friends, colleagues and those who stop in to read, who may not know me at all. 

Inspired I was by you all (and a certain tall man).  Such a hopeless romantic I am… but… wait, did someone say something about “hopeful” romantic? 

Gratitude
 
I am holding the hand of a person,
breathing into my left ear with  golden rule codes and a hundred swells

of sadness, tenderness and adoration.

The whole world cannot be wrong.

We watched the fan, the sun, the moon.

Now the cat watches the night through the screened window,

turns his green eyes to me and asks for freedom.

“You did freedom two hours ago,

You stay in at night.”

But he is not pleased with me.

His eyes tell me to let him go.

So we go to the door,

scooping him into my arms I step

over the threshold, into chilly air

around my elbows, his ears pricking.

I know it is not from the cold.

I set him down and return to the hand

I was holding, I return to the breath I felt on my neck.

The grey cat with yellow eyes curls up in our laps.

And green eyes, he just sits there, watching a cricket

make way across the pavers and into a tiny home.

I wonder for a moment if I could have possibly

taught my cats to respect all life. 

Two seconds into my thought, his paws are piled one

on top the other over the little dark hole. 

His little nose is twitching and his whiskers move with delight.

I laugh out loud and my person smiles at me, warm.

Tonight, a future persists in its entertainment of my dreams.

The crystal rubs over my palm and I write what I see.

All of this life has given me things to look forward to, 

and good company shall enter with the cats’ messy paw prints.