Alan Gould: Mercutio Went Through the Veil

Mercutio Went Through the Veil

Mercutio went through the veil,

became a pussycat,

a Siamese, alert and male,

blue-eyed and muscular and trim,

knew his wherein from his whereat…

Now we’ve acquired him.

His fur gleams pale like chinaware,

we call him Raku Svelte,

courtier of Strut and Tail-in-air,

the friar’s bell around his neck

that tingles when he licks his pelt

or paws  a moth on spec.

And mynahs, ganging in our tree,

with yellow roundel eyes,

find how their zest for oratory

(when Raku Svelte discreetly strops

his claws where they extemporize)

abruptly stops.

So boyo id burls through our rooms,

gallop of paws on boards,

What is it in a cat assumes

a human finger idly set

upon an armchair still discords

like some lewd Capulet?

In small hours when the frost has spread

its lacework on our lawn

this Raku comes to my love’s bed,

and lightly touching nose-to-nose

(for courtiers flaunt their right to fawn)

settles where she allows …

and through milk-sleep Verona flows,

from house to house as both dispose.

Alan Gould