Damn Kitten

by CeeJ

At first I didn't even notice
Him hopping around our feet
At Bill's farm
As we unloaded horses and sorted
Through bridles from the shed.
He was chasing leaves and bugs
Then he looked up at me,
One big sparkly green eye, and
One eye that was torn flesh bulging
From nothingness on the right side
Of his face; a ruptured eye, a brown
Blob of bio-ugliness rocking
Around, stuck to the socket,
Grotesquely rotating
As he moved his other eye. Then
He looked right into our faces and
Squeaked, and you turned positively
The color of grief, so of course I said
Let's take him, and we bundled him
Off to the gentle hands of my vet, saying
I don't know who the hell
He belongs to--guess it's me, now.
They kept him overnight,
Called me the next day,
And now I'm lying here
So tired my bones
Feel like shattered xylophone keys
And my hands are cramped from
Writing notes on tired essays,
And he has curled up on the pillow,
Puffs of purr on my face, warm
Where something wet rolls from
My own right eye, soothing a
Tiny scratch that reminds
Me I almost left him in the grass.