Cat-Eyed Lake Muanenguba Poem by Felix Bongjoh

(i)

In a friend's living room,
I'm pulled by the hands
of wall pictures
and photos flipping out
a green and blue hue,

but the brighter towing
and bulldozing rays of a cat,
pull me even closer
to the rays of the pet not only
clothed in its warm cream fur,

but also in its shades
of juniper, darkish blue
and light green strips.

Its watery eyes carries
the waters of twin
Lake Muanenguba, one eye
flashing out shamrock

and mint beams, as the other
shoots out cerulean
deep blue skies at me.

(ii)

How this animal in its fur
and eyes pierces
my memory of the basil
and green carpets of grass

crawling around
a lake I'm so familiar with.
The sluggish crawl
of weeds amid tottering
wild flowers at Lake
Muanenguba
smell and smack of this cat

slithering through
earthenware flower pots
placed between furniture
with twilight and dusk colors.

How the pet crawls
on a juniper rug pulling in
the grass closest

to the mouth of one
of the twin lakes
filled with moss green tiny
leaves and undergrowth.

(iii)

Miaow, miaow, stroking
eyes of a cat
flash out a cerulean sky
over blue- and green-eyed
twin Lake Muanenguba.

How a cat, splashing off
a flourishing green
and blue from its eyes,

pulls me to God's hands
spraying stroking love
harbored in the floating eyes
of far-flung twin lakes

bubbling deep beneath
its blue-green, sun-glazed sheets
in a cauldron of stillness
stroking air with blue and green -.
just like this breezy cat,
an animal carrying sky and meadows.

At the edge of a lake,
O Miaow,
do not slip off
into the lake's
devouring waters.