In Memory of Kodak (apologies to t.s. eliot)

i grow old... i grow old...
i shall eat my catfood cold

shall i chase after a squirrel? do i dare to eat a mouse?
i shall groom white feet and torso and walk out of the house
i have seen the kittens leaping, pounce to pounce

i do not think that they will leap for me

i have seen them running homeward through the grass
combing the green hair of the strands blown back
when the wind blows the blades fore and aft

we have lingered in the meadows of the sky
by kittens soft of fur and bright of eye
till human voices wake us and we die