Nine Lives

the cat is again
in horse mode,
rearing up on two legs
and prancing the house
as if it were
her paddock…

perhaps she is 
a horse reborn?

I don’t care about
orthodox ladders of rebirth.
it is not a question of learning a dogma.
I am just idly asking:
if this is a sign of reincarnation,
is horse to cat
a step up or
a step back? 

I seek to understand my role
in her karmic cart wheeling.
I seek to know hers in mine.  

if she has
nine lives do they all
return at once?

that would explain a few things —
how it seems there always are
a lot of souls in her
asking for food.
a lot of souls in her
pushing hard enough 
on my old legs
to often make me
almost fall.

she is crashing about the place again.
she’s no saddle broken nag, 
this one.  

whatever the reason she’s here,
whatever the lesson she needs,
it’s one not to be learned through
obedience, lap sitting, purring.

neither, perhaps, is mine.