The Gift of a Cat

Snow.   Everywhere
the whiteness of starlight.
A cat appeared outside my open window
dropped off a parcel
upon our heap of coal.

Stunned by this
I told Mother. She picked it up:
a piece of frozen pork.
Mother cooked it with green chili peppers
and dry wild mushrooms.

That evening by the fire
Father told the story of the poet Li Bai
who declined the Emperor's invitation
until the insolent Prime Minister
came to fetch slippers for him.

I could not stop thinking of the cat
black with green eyes.
Snow filled night with down.
I dreamed of gliding through the emptiness
between the stars.
Their white shadows melted on my skin.
The stars called to me
with the cat's voice.