strays raze on the curb strip beside our street there were two stray cats. one had been hit by a car. i didn't see it happen. the driver wrapped the cat they crushed in a blanket and left them there to die. they were already dead by the time i stepped outside. the cat that was still alive was holding the dead one in her arms. she stayed like that all day. unwilling to let go. i don't know what they were to each other. siblings. mates. mother and child. but i don't think i've seen a more devastated animal in all my years of being here. and i include myself in that, along with every living thing i've loved and learned not to love. more than half a lifetime later, i still think about that cat sometimes. clawing at what she knew was gone. clutching it close to her heart. too wracked with grief to move or make a sound. i want to unwind time, lie down beside her in the uncut grass, and let the runnel of my tears be a balm for all that's broken in both of us. let her find a home in the heat behind my eyes. let the wind say something soulful when it sighs. let us learn to speak the language of leaving while death bites at the back of our necks. just let us be. 260517 what's it to you? who go blather from