A Salted Cat

A twisted rhyme by harlan thyme


Tom was someplace out of sight all day.
It wasn’t till sometime in the mid-evening
He would be seen on the wall of a neighbor’s
House, just sitting there looking at the moon.
He would do this in all phases of the moon.
Just sit and watch the heavenly orb make its
Trek across the sky. He was silent in his form
Of observation until early in the following
Morning. It was about three when he would
bray like a jackass, howl like a wolf, yell
like Tarzan and shout like a traffic cop.
If any of the neighbors were upset or at all
Displeased about Tom’s racket, there was
No outward manifestation of anger or
Frustration. Most everyone in the area
Knew about the cat and would leave him
Be. One of the neighbors left food, water
And occasionally milk out for the feline.
By morning the food and milk were gone.
This routine went on for several years.
Then one of the neighbors sold their house
And moved. The new people moved in.
On the first early morning of the new
Neighborhood residents, at about three
Fifteen, a shoe flew out from somewhere
And knocked Tom off the wall.