Cat And Leaf

Rain

touches the skin of a leaf,

trickles down the stem like finger tips,

or falls like the feeling of a kiss--

and that same rain

in time becomes the leaf,

and faces God again

like this:

They say

a cat may look at a queen,

and so I look at you

even if from the depths of dreams;

and when I do,

I have to touch you with amazed and grateful lips--

in time, we will be together,

but until then,

there is this:

No matter from how far away the rain must come,

it will always find the leaf--

and she will be there waiting in a late afternoon of grace,

the small and shining desirer

of a perfect

and stormy

embrace.

_______