My black cat doesn't know
he will die one day
he doesn't cling to life
as I do
he leaps from the rooftop
light as air
climbs the tamarind tree
barely scratching it
doesn't dread crossing bridges
or dark alleyways
nor the perfidious scorpion
my black cat falls in love
with every cat he meets
he refuses to be snared
by a single love
the way I did.
[Claribel Alegria {1924-2018} 'Savoir Faire', trans. from the Spanish by D. J. Flakoll, from The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry, ed. by J.D. McClatchy]
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