I Am the Cat

I am the cat

with silent eyes

I mark the fall of the leaf

and the grasses glistening

I listen to life

and death.

Life grieves

death leaps

outside

and both together breathe.

I sleep in the warm

inside.

I am tied to the loves of my house.

But sometimes

I come untied.

Wild in hail or rain

electric to thunder

voluptuous for sun

I am chameleon

old wise woman

the witch

and then

the child on your lap

I am a universe.

Cat.

© Rosemary Nissen 1981

from Universe Cat, Pariah Press (Melb.) 1985

First published Luna

At Poets United this week, Kim at Verse First asks to write with omniscience. I'm cheating a bit, but this old poem — the title poem of my first book — is written from the viewpoint of a being who is certainly omniscient as well as everything else!