On Watch
Liz Grisaru
When weary, that is to say, crushed flat
under the weight of daily toil, I sit
and watch the cat, that royal prick,
descend the deck to make his rounds.
Happy dictator, he knows his weapons
and his foes; is not afraid of those
that dare invade the patio. He ignores
the nervous birds, teases them in their stress,
as he caracoles on the paving stones.
What matters it to you, he says, if one bird live or die
when all is now, now is all, and I
beneath the adoring sun sheathe eternity in my paws?
Liz Grisaru works for New York State government in renewable energy planning, used to practice law in various places, and lives outside Albany, NY. She and her wife have raised two young people who are going to help push the world along to a better place, in their own ways. She started writing poetry a few months before COVID arrived, after thirty years away from it, and feels enormously lucky.