When The Cat Licked My Fingers Poem by Charles Jagongo

I was five, six or seven
In granny's store, sound so agonized I heard it cry
A sound so lull, meek, diminishing, in pain
It came through, in my heart, it pricked
Two souls lived side by side, searching and tormented
In the rat trap, squeezed, not a rat but our cat
In my lap I remember it playing, smart and pretty
Fingers, paws, nose and whiskers, we loved to play,
None would flow, now life ebbed away,
The trap, to free I tried, it tried and licked my fingers,
It became so cold, now I know this was a bye!