ST. FRANCIS'S EMPTY SANDAL Poem by Alexandre O’Neill

The apple tree's gratitude and the cat's amnesia
never governed the course of my days.
"Stay where you are!"
is what I ordered the apple tree and the cat,
both still well outside my fondness for them.

I saved them (and myself!) from a fable
whose moral could only have been me, the chatty
friend of apple trees and companion of cats.

To spurn friendships in two kingdoms of nature
gives rise, I admit, to a certain uneasiness.
But it also gives me freedom.

I see figures on the far side of the valley.
They're running this way.
They're my fellow creatures.
I'll quarrel with them (without a doubt!),
but my idea of them
is still a link.

Let apple trees and cats rest in peace.