It must be nearly a quarter of a century since I observed this bit of cat behaviour. Fred, a huge, beautiful, gentle tomcat, had taken the new kitten (less than a year his junior) completely to his heart. Sadly, thirteen years later Annie forgot this early training and was run over. Fred refused food from the time of her death and died of a broken heart a few weeks later.
ROADWISE
He sat
on the kerb,
the kitten beside him,
looking left and right
at the long straight length
of the road.
A bicycle passed;
he stepped
into the deserted thoroughfare
and walked stately and unconcerned to the centre
where he sat
as calmly as before his own hearth
and glanced back to the kitten
still seated at the roadside,
across to the far side,
and back to the kitten again.
The kitten took her cue
and rose
looking warily about her
to step out into the unknown
past her companion
and on to foreign territory across the way.
Only once she had made the farther shore
did the cat rise
from his watching post
and join her,
touching noses
as if to say
Lesson over:
that is the way
a wise cat
crosses the road.
