Every day has something in it whose name is Forever.” -Mary Oliver, in ‘Everything That Was Broken’
Last night my kitten reminded me
all pain is temporary by curling up
on my lap after a hard day, soothing,
then biting each of my fingers between
licks and nuzzles as if to emphasize
the ephemerality of my weakness.
All my life I’ve taken comfort in these
little nibbles, but last night I craved
what lasts: scar tissue and
those quarries love gouges in me.
Her in my hands, her teeth in my
fingers, her claws pulling into the
grasp that we’ve wrought: we know
it will hurt when she lets go first, and
that there is no other way.
She only knows death from
toy batteries and what naps imply;
I would have it no other way.
I let her bite my fingers so she
learns to hold back from hurting
but not from love, so she learns
to accept my fingers in her
kitten mouth, so in her age and
dying she will let me help her through.
On her last night she’ll remind me
what all is temporary,what scars are not.
INSTANT NOODLES 