It’s four in the morning and Gus my tabby cat
Gus offers me a crying towel on his return
leaps onto the open window screen chasing
Birds in the dark the screen falls out so does
Gus waking me from a coarse slumber one
leg on and one leg off I tumble into my wheel
chair rolling far enough to reach the fallen
Screen and the cat came back jumps to rest
on my shoulder purring all I can do is stroke
Petting the cat over and over on my shoulder
purring his panic and mine as well I reach
the flimsy screen (fallen on the roof) pull it into
my room a room of a recluse wanting nothing
so much as the excise of pain storming
my spine once again while Gus rests
his chin on the side of his DIY box lined
with a blanket of stars look he seems to say
I nearly had that pecker head before you
turned the light on and scared him away
By the way do you notice the light is still
on and hoorah you saved the screen, me
I would have been fine he says with a sniff
I’ve lived rough hunted my breakfast many
a morning but this morning I could tell
you needed me on your shoulder, now
back to sleep you poor assemblage
of fear and good fortune good night
let’s be pals in the moonlight sleeping
into another dream hunt of feathers and flight
Goodnight good night Gus says to me
I gave you quite a fright as I tumbled
didn’t I just my four legs spread wild
tumbling outside on the roof side
I mooned the bird and declared
this space and this time as hours