Nancy Scott McBride’s most recent poem to appear here was “Inspiration” (October 2016)

Letting the Old Cat Die
By Nancy Scott McBride

When his time drew near,
the old cat purred real loud as if to
acknowledge the coming of something mighty.
He disappeared into the woods for a few days
and limped home, elated from blood-sport,
sated with blood-taste, his paws and muzzle
stained brown. Then, eyes filmed beyond seeing,
ears folded beyond hearing, drawing down into
a dim memory and led by his whiskery antennae,
he crawled into the dark musky warmth of the closet
where fifteen years earlier, his mother, labor-exhausted
but purring real loud to announce a mighty event,
had dropped her brood among the shoes.