The sun is shining
My cat is dying
Two facts of my afternoon
Neither more important as the other
Nor under my control.
I don’t understand the timing
Why now, why this way?
All my heart loves him,
I will miss his white mustache
and dipped-in-paint paws.
Yet sorrow comes in fighting
By wishing the sun would not set
In hoping for a different miracle
By disbelieving fate.
Or thinking he timed it wrong.
Yet he gets to choose
It’s his life to live, or not
He’s tired
He loved us well.
He loves us still.
He’s a champion
A stubborn lion of black silk
Proud, tall, regal, strong
Our protector, our friend.
He can never leave us, ever.
He’s not gone.
Being Claudia Theodore 