Scout, an old cat
A rusty iron bell
nailed to the porch wall
tolls in a hot breeze.
She loves the sun so
I sit very still
while she sleeps in my lap.
I am so still
that a lizard runs across my shoe
and neither it nor I care.
I can see that rabbit
eating my tomato plants
and a tortoise, also,
half-buried in the pine straw
escaping the heat.
This sultry day drags on and on
but I don’t want it to end
because she will pass into the darkness
before the world does.
