The Passionate Cat Owner to Her Love
Come lie with me and be my cat
And we’ll forget about all that
Infernal yowling out-of-doors
By friends and enemies of yours.
Come, lie right here. Ignore the fuss.
We don’t need anyone but us.
It’s comfy-cozy in the house.
The fire’s lit. There’s your toy mouse.
Why prowl about, and stalk, and stir?
How lovely just to stroke your fur!
How I do wish you’d somehow see
You don’t need anyone but me.
All right. All right. But not for long.
And don’t do anything that’s wrong.
Above all, Dearest, don’t get hurt!
I’ve got your favorite for dessert:
Those special Yums you so enjoy.
Be Mummy’s Bestest Precious Boy,
And don’t come bleeding home at dawn
And greet my anguish with a yawn.
Don’t, don’t, for God’s sake, make me pray
And call the troopers. Love, don’t stay
Away a week again like that!
Now, come. Kiss Mummy.
That’s my cat!
Bruce Bennett is Professor and Chair of English and Director of Creative Writing at Wells College in Aurora, New York. He was a cofounder and editor of Field and Ploughshares, and served as an editor at Judith Kitchen’s State Street Press. His reviews of contemporary poetry have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Nation, Harvard Review, and elsewhere. He is the author of nine books of poetry and more than twenty poetry chapbooks, and was recently awarded a Pushcart Prize. His latest chapbook, The Wither’d Sedge, was just published by Finishing Line Press.