Weekend in the country with cat and bird

Anna Langova

Weekend in the country with cat and bird  -

She woke to a cat curled on a plump corner chair.

Sunlight spilling on vased flowers - in those un-askew moments

waking in the guesthouse – she smiled - the cat opened

one eye and then another – in steady emerald stare -stretching

in that languid feline way – in feigned innocence of the unhappy crimson pull of dawn’s nightmare furry sanguinary fury –

She turned, poor-still happy-hapless- house-guest,

suddenly startled by the silence of her sweet songbird –

turned to the pretty cage carried along with her –

Its door now curiously opened –

its tiny occupant unrecognizable

but for that precious puff

of yellow feathers stirring

in the breeze

from her hosts’

open window carrying her

soft scream into the now
mourning-morning