I Sit In The Shade Under The Chestnut-Tree Poem by Gert Strydom

I sit in the shade
under the chestnut-tree
with the golden ginger cat on my lap
who pushes his front paws
around my hands

bending them to hold on to me
with nails just touching me
and his golden eyes
looks lovingly up into mine
while he licks me
with a pink grating tongue
and I am again without you.

I read a poem in Ted Hughes’s
“Birthday Letters”
telling about how
he met his wife
and the hours of my birthday
now passes very slowly
after I had to say goodbye
to you again

and the sky is blue
and now cloudless
as if the sun
is specially shining for me today
and I do not know
what to do
to get you back again
and my spirit is tired
and it’s a hell of a thing
to be alone once more.