Maggie Somerville: ‘Two Cats’

Two Cats
inspired by Joe Dolce’s villanelles

Two cats on my bed at sunrise today,
One sleeping, one licking, both guarding my bed,
The fluffy pink clouds like kittens at play.

Once worshipped in Egypt, their subjects would pray
To their feline controllers, the cult of the dead.
Two cats on my bed at sunrise today.

Some birds are a-twittering, greeting the day,
One cat starts a-twitching, a turn of the head,
The fluffy pink clouds like kittens at play.

He rests here, recumbent, the white and the grey,
She nestles beside me—no more to be said.
Two cats on my bed at sunrise today.

The sky is now changing, a swirling display,
The cats begin stirring and beg to be fed.
The fluffy pink clouds like kittens at play.

At the top of the stairs now the cats are away,
The newspaper beckons and waits to be read.
Two cats on my bed at sunrise today—
The fluffy pink clouds like kittens at play.

Maggie Somerville