To My Rescue Cat
Al gato que rescaté
Was the person who taught you to love
also the one who threw you out?
I sometimes wonder at 6 am
when you wake me for a hug,
and as your purring fills the dawn,
I think two parties were involved
(the child who adored you and the parent who did not,
or the husband and wife with discordant ideas
and perhaps an allergy);
or if the one who loved you left you
I suspect they had no choice
(the elder taken to a home or the addict passed out on the floor,
or even dead, which is the ultimate usurpation of the will).
Oh grand invention implored from Santa Claus and God,
miniature tiger that always wants to play,
you stalked me for three decades in a jungle of ideal forms
before some stranger unwittingly dropped you in my path.
*
La persona que te hizo amar
también te abandonó?
me pregunto a las seis de la mañana
cuando me despiertas pidiendo mimos
y mientras el alba cobra voz en tu salvaje ronroneo
conjeturo la existencia de dos partes
(el niño que te adoró y los padres a quienes sobraste,
o tal vez los cónyuges de ideas discordantes
y para colmo alguna alergia a los pelos),
y si la persona que te quiso te dejó
la imagino sin elección
(la anciana relegada a un asilo, el adicto desmayado en el suelo,
o incluso muerto, lo cual es la pérdida más abyecta
de cualquier libre albedrío).
Oh gran invento implorado a los Reyes y a Dios,
pequeño tigre siempre ávido de juegos,
me acechaste durante tres décadas en la jungla de las formas,
hasta caerme por el despiste de algún desconocido.
In the poem, my cat receives a double-edged gift of love and abandonment, accidental or not, from his first owner, while I receive a double-edged gift of a wonderful pet who comes with a certain mystery, as I will never know who left him on the street.
Emily R. Frankenberg (Princeton, New Jersey , 1981) has resided in Seville, Spain since 2006. She writes in both Spanish and English, and her work has appeared in publications from various countries. Currently, she is self-studying the Latin language and Roman literature.
See more of her work in 8.4 and 8.4 again