A few days ago
I reincarnated
as a cat

my steps made no noise
my eyes were deeper
my body more agile and slender
my fur longer
my senses sharper

I spent my time
observing everything
from a corner of my house
sometimes staying still

looking under things
waiting for something to come out
to swipe at it
and catch it with a paw

I shed fur
always slept on the sofa
with the TV beside me
the warmth lulling me
ate canned fish
or raw things
always sniffing them
before biting

when I was fed up
I would stretch out on my paws
then arch my back
extend my claws
on a wool blanket

if I got bored
I would wander around
at night
going down stairs

– without making noise –

hunting vermin
gnawing on them
drooling on them
then spitting them out
leaving them lying around

sometimes I returned to the places I left
lay by the window
to look at the sky and the moon
to think about rodents
to remember rooftops

I dreamed of tangling between your legs
letting your hands touch my back

just for a while
then I would go to the roof
to take inventory of my lives
of the ones lost
of the ones remaining

thinking about jumps into the void
about fast cars
about poisoned fish

and I dreamed of the day you would come
and I waited for you
like I waited for those things
that come out from under the furniture

I always waited for you
everywhere
I waited for you on sidewalks
on rooftops
at the end of the hours

I waited for you

on the edge of the ledge

I waited for you

when I had already opened
all your boxes
deciphered all your codes
solved all your mysteries
drawn all your lines

when I already knew
all your words
I jumped

you were
on the other side of the roof
standing

in a black coat
a nice horror movies t-shirt
looking at the sky
with the sea beside

and I jumped
and became
what I am now
what no longer waits

nor claws
nor observes
nor hunts
nor thinks

what only remembers
that it lived as a cat
six lives

the last one
it will lose
with you
that day
in a hug