Cat's Dream
How neatly a cat sleeps,
sleeps with its paws and its posture, sleeps with its wicked claws, and with its unfeeling blood, sleeps with all the rings-- a series of burnt circles-- which have formed the odd geology of its sand- colored tail. I should like to sleep like a cat, with all the fur of time, with a tongue rough as flint, with the dry sex of fire; and after speaking to no one, stretch myself over the world, over roofs and landscapes, with a passionate desire to hunt the rats in my dreams. |
I have seen how the cat asleep
would undulate, how the night flowed through it like dark water; and at times, it was going to fall or possibly plunge into the bare deserted snowdifts. Sometimes it grew so much in sleep like a tiger's great- grandfather, and would leap in the darkness over rooftops, clouds and volcanoes. Sleep, sleep car of the night, with episcopal ceremony and your stone- carved moustache. Take care of all our dreams; control the obscurity of our slumbering prowess with your relentless heart and the great ruff of your tail. - Pablo Neruda |