The cat, as usual, has the right idea. Succumb not to fear, to limiting love, to dreading all the things that hamper our ability to move forward, to embrace joy and goodness.
When, oh when, will I populate my own homestead with black cats?
Savoir Faire
–Claribel Alegría
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 ensnared
by a single love
the way I was.
Original
Mi gato negro ignora
que va a morir un día
no se aferra a la vida
como yo
salta desde el tejado
ligero como el aire
se sube al tamarindo
arañándolo apenas
no lo amedrenta el paso de los puentes
ni el callejón oscuro
ni el pérfido alacrán
mi gato negro ama
a cuanta gata encuentra
no se deja atrapar
por un único amor
como lo hice yo.