Rule: I must be vulnerable

come to me not softly

Rule: I must be vulnerable

So I am a kitten
and you are mother cat
and we don't use words
cats don't speak

Every day since the day I was born
mother cat speaks morning the same way
looks to my left and holds
looks at my eyes and hums--
that rippling hum as she touches
always with the same pressure

And these are words

all I need right now
are words like this
that play out a familiar
exchange

We like to think that such exchanges
cannot mean more than a paragraph
but they can
as they do to children
who cannot speak
who need what we would use words for

in another form
an exchange, metered
and by context
meaningful

so see my temporary shame
my weakness
and come to me, not softly
or in any special way
speak to me the folly of my worry
by your sameness
without words as words
always with the same pressure

unresponsive to my fear