Meal for Two

There’s a salty, briny breeze redolent
of cliff walks, white-washed cottages,

a woman with whom I’d shared meals,
intimacy. In the warm Azorean air,

a black cat, its curiosity circumspect
in the way of island creatures,

ambles across my path. Ballerino-like,
it leaps onto a street-side rock-ledge

& gifts a ripped rodent into the open
mouth of its tousle-furred partner.

Not privy to the lunge, hapless shriek
offstage – but seldom are we – I remember

we ate slowly, feeding each other
morsels of seasoned meat, as a prelude

to kindling kindred hearts,
love as a succulent delicacy.