Starbuck

Starbuck

The smell of death pervades the air
There was no presence on the rocking chair
The stillness shrouded the morning news
No track across the early dews

No sleek demand as I opened the door
Of a virgin white fridge on milk and coleslaw
No small cracked voice demands to be fed
On the floor of the kitchen of Cardinal red

Where is the tyrant of insatiable thirst?
That lies in wait so often cursed
The food untouched like a famine struck
Where are you now my friend Starbuck?

So there you are, why don’t you move?
With glassy eyes that disapprove
No rise and fall of body sides
A place where life does not reside

I see it now, deaths bitter sting
The cycle of life has closed its ring
A friend has passed not to return
Grant one more minute this sorrow to learn

The resting place lies open now
Beneath the pear tree’s fingered bow
Quite near the raspberry fruiting cane
This loss the fertile soil will gain

Now closed the hole unmarked the grave
No master to serve this willing slave
A void to fill no thirst to slake
No dancing feline to partake

No breeze astir, no shadows flit
Vacated the spot where it would sit
It made few sounds and silent left
This limbo has its epaulet

Unstalked the night, unslept the day
Yet though I know he passed away
I crave his silent cat like grace
My friend now gone from this lonely place