Stepping Out with My Big Cats

And now in the dark shell of night,

in secret, I cast off from the shore

of my life. It is cool in this dark.

They are near me, my big cats, taller

than I am, my cougar, my leopards

and their cubs. They have come

to take me away down the branches

and plains of their memory. I walk

with them in step with their eyes

and their purring. Tonight

by a trumpet of moons we are bright

as chains linked together, moving

softly in and out of the mist.

I am quiet as moss, safe in the nest

of our walk. My big cats rub

the trees as we pass. They show

their teeth and I smile back.

Nothing and no one I have known,

no mystery of breath or glance,

leads me to this peace. Here in the grace

of an hour with them I can enter

my life’s resting place. My big cats

give it all back to me again,

the brilliant mane of the wind,

the silence broken by sighs of the dew

spotted leaves. I touch their fur,

I see the world with their startled

and watchful eyes. This is the world

I want. This is the end of the dock

where I jump off out of my life.