Sky of Stone

It's about the sky today---the slow moving slab of heavy marble---shades of gray and white---neck-ache patterns that draw me up. At ground level all is silent, still, and dim---under solid cloud shadow. Not a breath of moving air. A deathly pall veils the morning. Single calls of bird and squirrel season the broth, but no other stirring. The leaves on the trees are like the human statues in Jackson Square (New Orleans) and Fisherman's Wharf (SanFrancisco)---eerie and still---waiting for a chance to move.

Now and again a chimney swift flies across the stone sky.

All at once, panicked birdcries saturate the back right corner of the yard. I know from past observations it is not without cause. Sure enough---emerges a slow cat, ambling up the path from The Wayback. A new cat I've not seen before---a calico with tiger gray striped tail, white feet, patchy face, and mottled orange and black back---like marble. She answers the sky. dkm