Writer's Digest April 2023 Poems

Cosmic Cat From Berkeley

Cosmic Cat Writer’s Digest

The Cosmic Cat from Berkeley

I next encountered the divine
Many years later in Berkeley, California
I had gone home to be with my Mother

While taking leave from my job
in the Foreign Service

I had two weeks there by myself
My wife came later
near the end of the trip

every morning I woke up
had coffee
Did yoga

Spoke to my mother
Who was sliding into dementia?
Day by day losing her reason

Then I would go out
And explore the city
Go to a museum
Go to one neighborhood
And just be there

Rediscovering the Bay area
After years of being away

Having dinner with old friends
Seeing movies etc

Every morning a black cat came to visit
The cat was friendly and waited for me
And then would join me in my morning rambles
Following me to the bus stop

I started talking to the black cat
He looked at me
with a spark of divinity

In his dark eyes
I called him the cosmic cat

He seemed to like that
He would look at me
And I opened up to me
Told the cat all my dark secrets

As I walked the streets
Of the old neighborhood

Every morning and every evening the cat
Would be there to greet me
And to carry out our endless conversation

Then I had to leave
And in our final conversation
I asked the cosmic cat

Say, Cat are you just a cat
Or are you a demonic cat
Are you possessed by God?
Or by Satan

The cat looked at me
And I realized that God
Was indeed residing in the cat

But that god was residing everywhere
All I had to do was open my mind
And the rest would follow

So I said Goodbye to the cosmic cat
And he purred and came up to me
And I felt the comforting presence of the divine

As I said goodbye to the cosmic cat
And said goodbye to my mother
As this was the last time
That we would be able to talk

I told my mother about the cosmic cat
She smiled and said that the cat
was there for me and her
to comfort us both in our hour of need

and that the cat was indeed
a cosmic cat