There is nothing here / That does not see you.
…………………–Rilke
The old cat calcifies on the sterile
…….silver table, the veterinary staff
Having quietly and kindly withdrawn. Thin,
…….unstable, he had wanted desperately to go
Outdoors, and while he was able, I took him.
…….He said goodbye, each by each,
To the elements. Now I watch the chemicals
…….leech the brilliance and pain
Out of the little that’s left of him.
…….He was Achilles among the mice, and I
Have killed him—because of the cancer
…….that cankered his bones,or because of
My weakness? I can’t heal him, even though
…….he has watched me create kibble
Ex nihilo and knows I summon light
…….from the darkest air for my own
Comfort’s sake. So why not his? But now,
…….With one clear look, he forgives me,
I want to imagine, and dies. I sit alone
…….watching Angkor Wat and the Parthenon
Crumble and fall in the sculpted blankness
…….of his drilled and verdigrised eyes.