The day they elected
A new leader for the free world
was the day you died.
I never did get to read the news that day.
I hadn’t spoken to him in a month
Then there he was,
Lighting up my phone at 7am.
No good can come
of calls that come that early.
He told me you couldn’t walk.
I said, ‘do you want me to come?’
Even though I was scared.
I was scared to see you.
That I wouldn’t be strong enough.
And he cried in reply.
He hadn’t cried on the day
I packed my things and left.
So I went to him.
When I got to his house
Obama’s speech played on my old TV
And you were lying on the bed,
purring
But I knew as well as he did
cats who can’t walk don’t live
I’ve never seen a cat in a wheelchair
Have you?
You hung on three days in the end
Fought the parasite in your head
But it won
On the last day,
You lay on your side
Like a goldfish flopped out from a bowl
You lay
They’d shaved patches from you
You were defeated, but loved
You had power still
In belonging to us
I was so happy we were with you
when you went.
You were the last link between he and I
The reason we still talked
Afterwards,
he went back alone to his flat
I went back alone to mine.
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