The Graves of Cats
The graves of cats are not like
those of dogs or parakeets.
They have been slipped out of
a day or maybe two
after you packed the dark dirt
with the long-handled shovel.
Now as you play with the child
or drink a beer beside the stream
while the swallows skim the wheat,
the cats as though from under the table
stretch and slide past roots
and fallen leaves, and not a blade
of grass disturbed, not a worm,
except at the corner of your eye
there’s a small shift of direction
in the alfalfa, and for a moment
the evening preens and stares
in a way you almost call by name.
–Harry Humes
