Old cat
Skin cracked
Saying “MmrROwWw” to me like
An angry curse
Ramming his head
Into the iris stalks
Spraying dead white
Across his mottled blackness
Saying “MMrROowww” to me like
An angry curse
Until I reach out
And scratch the cracked
Black body
Feeling his old
Shriveled bones
Coaxing his back
Into an arch

It must hurt
I think
To be touched
So old,
But more pain
Is the itch
Driving his ancient frame
Into the stalks.

I leave and hear
Another “mmRRoww”
Like an angry,
Lonely curse