The cat is gone

The porcelain beauty keeping vigil in the backyard

atop a cracked boulder and flanked by a faded pinwheel

Even the plastic flowers…gone



Taking for granted, this guardian of someone’s beloved pet

who greeted me each morning as I parked my car

beside the dilapidated house next to my school

I didn’t consider it might disappear



Stealing my breath for just a minute

It wasn’t that someone had removed the statue

It was the realization –  Change is in the air

Was the cat’s name Hope?



Subtle undertones design a new tomorrow

What always was isn’t necessarily

what will always be as workers eagerly tear down memories

in the name of Progress




Photo: Esty