A CLOSE WATCH OF THE CAT
So often as still as a stone,
but stirred by something it sees.
For now there is nowhere to hide
from the screech of fury or fear
in a creature’s restless rhythms,
a confession of sudden choice.
Spirits rise when the hunt is on.
There is no time for caution.
Stumbling through the undergrowth
when dark dissembles the day.
The fallen limbs of the pine
impede the predator’s path.
High winds have blown from other lands,
leaving what look like skeletal bones.
The resemblance chills the heart
of a child’s dream of a tiger.
About the Author: Geoffrey Heptonstall’s sixth collection of poetry, The Truth on the Tongue, is published by Cyberwit. What We Do Well, was published by Cyberwit in 2024. A Whispering, was published by Cyberwit June 2023. His first collection, The Rites of Paradise, received critical acclaim when first published in 2020. Sappho’s Moon and The Wicken Bird followed. He has written for many print anthologies. A novel, Heaven’s Invention, was published by Black Wolf in 2016. A number of plays and monologues have been staged, broadcast and/or published. He is also a short fiction writer, essayist and reviewer
Image Credit: Bruno Liljefors: A Cat and a Chaffinch (1885) Public domain image courtesy of Artvee
As It Ought To Be 