Eulogy for Intimacy

For Rebecca

You were about to toss the carcasses of lifeless feline,
when you hesitated momentarily, before the pre-approved disposal
To deliberate the black bagged bodies, navigating their aerial trajectory

Just as a thousand found objects, used and abused,
for pleasure or pain or unsightly, over-achieving hair follicles
What is the meaning of one life observed?

And the life of lab cats? Born to mother’s with dreams and destinies
Destines maybe only Darwin judges defensible; but motives, nonetheless.

If you paused to reflect upon cats whose service was more in death than in life, would you also contemplate one moment of my existence? Could you not see the soul’s light of your friends and family, in all its fallible ways and tendencies?

Could you grant us one passing thought before our misrepresenting bodies—impersonators of our souls—serve to nourish the earthworm or the lilac.