The Tom cat

I love how he lives life to the full,
his solitary high on a wall, his coercion
of balancing on his hind legs
to reach even further,

the way he is strutting
as only he can strut-
his relentless staring
at nothing and his purr
as if rewarding himself for it;
his reluctance to be touched
and his unwillingness of being picked up,
which would mean a give in.

The way his fortitude holds and grows stronger,
for he does what he knows,
his whiskers like radars
moving through untravelled space
far beyond his round amber eyes.