The Cat Poem by Deluke Muwanigwa

The Cat

Even before the last breath
A feline sat a metre away
Motionless
Staring at the dying man
By day end the cat would go away
to come again the next day for the vigil

Each day the vital signs of the man going off scale
blood pressure 40/20
Micturition only once a week
looking weak
pupils of his eyes a blank white
like a cat's in very bright light

Caregivers having given up on him
no longer bothered to force feed him
nor wasting resources on drips
the only statute holding them back being the law against euthanasia

Daily, the cat would come and sit a metre away
every day
Neither purring
Nor blinking

Unbeknown the man was half dead
The cat aware of wisps of macabre odours
aware of internal organs defunct
The kidney failing
The liver ailing
The spleen
The skin

the cat fascinated by this new species of humanity
out of curiosity
coming daily to view the dying man.
Then one day the cat did not return
the man's heart finally stopping

He died sitting in situ
with the same disposition
internal organs already in decomposition.
They believed he would be back as a cat
oblivious of the impossibility of resurrection.

C.15032022