Nurse Cat

The moon shone dimpled, dark and bright With chants of legions old Amidst the flames of dreams in flight And stories never told He stood in shadows hidden glare His eyes like rippled waves He played with nary pain nor care His soul could not be saved In manners old and customs quaint With hands that flew in verse He gathered words not stout or faint, As was his lifelong curse He placed upon a parchment old Tales told in metered rhyme Of stories warm and terrors cold And loves left far behind While he paced he thought of days Strange places he had been In came his tigered shorthaired cat Who stared with a mischievous grin To his surprise the cat leaped up On a thin but strong barred sill And said as though to interrupt It’s time to take your pill