I rule my lands;
I roam my gardens 
and the foul smell of flowers
and the delicious chirp of 
food. I need nothing more than
soft grass beneath my paws
and uncontested territory
and someone who knows when to hold me
for how long.
Presently you don’t know, 
but I’ll come to you anyway.

Come take me in,
I want to be the one you leave 
and the one you come to
but I’m a stray cat, you see –
I go with the shadows
and mold into the bushes
and the wedge of your hand.
There! Your fingertips
point at my head and touch it
lightly, like the brush of a star,
careful not to breach me
through my fragile shields.

I want you, I want you –
I want you not. Please
touch me again,
put your hand on my head
put your arms around me
carefully as if you were holding
a glowing ball of stardust,
careful! not to breach me
through my fragile shields.

I’m a stray cat,
slinking through the waters
and the crazes of the sun.
I don’t need fancy words, 
I need nothing at all
but the quietness of the bushes
and the wedge of your hand.

If you were to take me in, 
not that I care much, but 
would you be careful?
I rule these lands,
but I get lost so quickly.
Don’t shut me in,
Don’t ever leave me out.