Panther

When the panther came

no belfry rang alarums,

no cleric spat his tea.

When the panther came

the sky an lawn were still.

The panther came

through forest,

through field,

up to the wall

and my one blossoming cherry tree.

 

I had constructed

the world as it was

and had pared the body

from the customs of languor.

It pressed its nose against

the pane and its gears

ground me away into ribbons

of dissonance.

 

It turned and sauntered

into the shadows. Its

paw marks on the earth

like cherries too ripe in a white bowl.