HUNTER
sadness nibbles at the lady
a thousand
voracious mice
the cat, he understands prey
though he has never known
warm dirt beneath his paws
he guards while she sleeps
tail lashing, ears perked
he swallows her grief
she awakens each morning, smiling
his body a round pillow
perfect warmth within the crook of her arm
it is easy to digest true mice
bone, muscle, sinew, whisker
but sadness sticks in the craw
burrows into cells
foul, malignant and amassing
gangrenous to body, not to noble soul
her affliction so mighty
it ravages his few remaining lives
until one remains
even so
the hunter does not stop hunting
tumor a glowing red knoll
above his heart
when he can no longer walk
they enter that place of strange smells and white walls
the lady’s tears fall as hot rain
his raspy tongue laps those salty trails
and till the very end
he swallows her grief, and purrs