Human Purring

It’s cold and dark and winter.
Clinic was too hard.
Too many asks,
too much me trying,
not enough time.

Stomach muscles so tight and sore,
I feel drained.
Brain still whirring,
I want it to stop,
but it won’t.

Kitchen is dark.
No one home,
but Mango.

Sprawled on the hot radiator cover,
pressing soft belly into the heat,
she half opens an eye at me,
for a second.
Body motionless.

As I approach, she starts to purr,
Purr-ing…, Purr-ing…, Purr-ing…
I drop into the armchair
beside her.

“OK, c’mon”, I coach my body:
“Straight back, feet on ground”,
“in breath - through the nose,
out breath - through the mouth”.

In… – Out… (slow),
“I… – Am…” (silently),
in… – out…,
“I… – Am…”
My rhythmic mantra.

Respirations more full,
tummy softens,
feeling warmer,
whirring brain slows,
a bit.

Minutes later,
the whir stops.

Purr-ing…, Purr-ing…, Purr-ing…,
I hear her!
She had never stopped.
Oh!, my In… - Out… can roughly match her cadence.

We sit there,
together in the dark.
Mango loudly Purr-ing…
to the world,
and me,
silently Purr-ing…
to myself.

The author declares that artificial intelligence was not used in the composition or revision of this work.

The author acknowledges the journal’s editor, two reviewers, and Caroline Hensley who helped make this a better poem.