Walking With The Cat Poem by Prabhakar Subramaniam

As I pace the terrace
In the cover of the night
I guiltily think
Of the hours
Of exercise
Missed over the week
Either due to chores
Phone calls fishing for bad news
Or neighbours
Who want more to talk
Than walk
Now, there is no one
To distract me
With gossip that triggers
A train of negative thoughts - -
Siblings who have not visited
Moving farther and farther away
Years relentlessly slipping away
A dreaded visitor swiftly approaching - -
I suddenly turn to find the neighbour's cat
Tailing me with mocking steps
Trying to say something with a sentence of mews
Maybe asking me where they have all gone
Especially the little one
Who plies him with sweets and savouries
And hardly lets him out of her arms
I seem to understand him
His sudden fear of loneliness
Of being abandoned
Left to stare at a locked door
As the hours slip away
With no familiar footsteps
Or voices coming up the stairs