The Clockwork Cat

A tribute to my own cat, who reached 20 years before her gears stopped turning. RIP Piewackett.

The shrill, metallic cry at dawn -
A long beseeching moan, forlorn;
Its jarring timbre splits the air
And bids me rise to meet it there.

I stumble blindly down the hall,
Led by that ghastly, ghostlike call,
And there in darkness, lamplights glow,
My clockwork cat bids me hello.

The scream fades to a whirring sound -
A pleasant drone once I’m around
To change the oil and turn the key;
I wind her up, as she winds me.

This cat was once of wholesome flesh,
Not gears and pistons, wires and mesh
With rusted frame and broken tail;
Her movement brittle, weak and frail.

Where every jolting jerk and judder
Makes her weary innards shudder;
Taking all her life to die,
To fossilize and petrify.

“Oh clockwork cat” we often say,
“Oh, should we wind you up today?
When every turning of the key
Prolongs your body’s atrophy?”

But clockwork cat, she lingers still,
And clockwork climbs her clockwork hill,
Like clockwork, we still wind her on,
Till clockwork cat is finally gone.

Reviews

[BAtkins]

Like the poem, one of my cats will be 22 in may.

[J.P. Bristow]

this brought amazing images to mind....alice in wonderland meets the corpse bride. brilliant write!

- My cat just turned 18 and she is so very feline and has gotten even more demanding with age but its a small price for the love balled in fur.

[Manyfacets]

Nice rhyming treatment, fantastic imagery, and heartfelt. Many of us have one of these in our lives. Ours lasted twenty-one years. His spirit lurks. Smiles to you.

[Naomi Montana Walsh]

I did cry when reading this..regognizing my own clockwork animal in the piece..mine being a very old dog, it did what poetry is meant to do it touched my heart my mind and soul and I must say one of the best I have read here..ok one of the best I have read at all, the Mechanical reference was so on spot for the feel of this old cat ..

[Eliza Pleasant]

Wow. First of all, OMIGOSH! A twenty year old cat! Daaaaaang... Second of all, I loved your poem. Especially the rhyming.