Cat in an Empty Apartment

Cat in an Empty Apartment



Die__you can’t do that to a cat



Since what can a cat do



In an empty apartment?



Climb the walls?



Rub up against the furniture?



Nothing seems different here,



But nothing is the same.



Nothing has been moved,



But there is more space.



And at nighttime no lamps are lit.





Footsteps on the staircase,



but they’re new ones.



The hand that puts fish on the saucer



has changed, too.





Something doesn’t start



at its usual time



Something doesn’t happen



as it should.



Someone was always, always here,



then suddenly disappeared



and stubbornly stays disappeared.





Every closet has been examined.



Every Shelf has been explored.



Excavations under the carpet turned up nothing.



A commandment was even broken,



Papers scattered everywhere.



What remains to be done.



Just sleep and wait.





Just wait until he turns up,



Just let him show his face.



Will he ever get a lesson



on what not to do to a cat.



Sidle toward him



as if unwilling



and ever so slow



on visibly offended paws,



and no leaps or squeals at least to start.

Wistawa Szymborska