Once, in a house stitched from sunlight and dust,
we were cats; not the sharp-eyed hunters of legend,
but the kind who curl into corners like living shadows,
puzzle pieces pressed into each other’s warmth.
You were the quiet hearth,
steady paws folding over the edges of my noise,
the soft, deliberate purr that pulled me close,
measuring my leaps and tumbles with patience
I could never earn enough of, but always sought.
I was the spark that tumbled over floorboards,
a blur of whiskers and twitching tail,
flinging myself into the orbit of your calm,
and always, without fail, your gravity caught me,
your warmth and presence holding the chaos I could not contain.
Yet your subtle mischief always found me too,
brushing against my flailing paws with gentle insistence,
letting me topple into your steadiness,
then nudging me awake with patient affection,
curling around me in ways that said:
I am yours, in every way you can be held.
We slept like two halves of a single shadow,
my head tucked beneath your shoulder,
your tail curled along my spine,
the silent rhythm of our hearts
a language older than words.
I pawed, I nudged, I demanded,
and you responded with a quiet, fierce devotion,
teaching me to fold my wildness into safety,
to rest in the orbit of your care.
Even in the soft hours of dawn,
when sunlight spilled like milk across the floor,
I would stretch into you like a ribbon of shadow,
and you would shift, ever attentive,
pressing against me, matching my warmth with your own,
our chaos and calm spinning together,
until the house itself seemed to breathe with us,
two halves of a single puzzle,
purring in unison,
each whisker, each paw,
a quiet promise:
we have always belonged to one another.
not my usual style but i'm workshopping poetry for my partner months in advance so i'm not scrambling for scorpio season :)