8.28.2022

he refuses to be snared

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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