To My Cat, in Time of War

It’s hard these days, dear puss, to be a human being.

I go online and rage at what I’m seeing,

and entertain wild fantasies of flight.

But where to go, and how, and is it right

to flee instead of stay and fight?

You jump up on my lap and balance on my legs,

but I, downing the dregs

0f  the day’s dire narrations,

push you off with aggravation.

Forgive, my friend, this brief brutality!

It’s not my fault. It’s just…reality,

which, when confronted, saps my sanity.

Yet this I know: for news-inducèd spleen

You are for me the remedy supreme.

Your slowly blinking eyes, your soft gray fur,

the sweet continuo of your purr,

induce in me a meditative state,

foster contentment, and banish hate.

So be my guest, leap on the lap you crave.

You may remain as long as you behave.

I’ll close the screen and we will sit and gaze

at winter woods now surging back to life,

where birds rehearse aubades, innocent of strife.