A grey shade in the cottage shadows

a paw lick of sinuous silence

a tail flick of smoke

a pounce on time's toll

 

Like a smoke devil escaped the chimney

she inhabits the lounge at night

never settling

she drifts across the hearth

 

Like the umbral weight of her past

she settles beyond my sight

I sense only the leak

of light left by her passing

 

Like the presence of an unseen wraith

she is at my supper table

to fill the empty chair

across from me

 

Like the gentle press of death I feel

her weight as sleep prowls

she makes no noise

as I enter our dream

 

Later she is an autumnal dawn mist

a purr of a past warmth

an absence that chills

as I greet another cottage day

 

A grey shade in the cottage shadows

a breath of sinuous silence

a tail curl of smoke

drifting across cottage time