Poem for Today

Nelson
Nelson was an intelligent, intellectually inclined, cat. He moved on, with a degree of mechanical help, on the evening of February twenty-second, nineteen hundred and seventy-six.

Born in March, with my son,
Differing styles ─
Minds as one.
One flesh of mine,
the other, substance
of my inner self,
personified.

Both grew to be
loved beyond all;
born, out of love ─
lived within its
warm shadow:
cared for ─ protected
by my instinct.

Now the flesh lives on
alone ─ his friend
and ally gone.
Calling gets no response
from the small
cold pile
of heaped stones.

Out of the night
lights ─ engine-hum ─
Burnt rubber from
The screeching tyres;
Noises that carry
The passenger
Who visits, unwelcomed.

Now the sound of steel
cutting through earth;
a soft thud, rhythmic
in moonlight;
the fresh soil
watered
by my tears.

.
© 1978 Colin Gordon-Farleigh
Taken from Flight of a Bee,
First published in 1978 by
Gazebo Books (Pty) Ltd, Rhodesia