💾 Archived View for gemini.locrian.zone › library › Hastings › Black_Cats.gmi captured on 2022-06-03 at 23:13:19. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Black Cats

by Cristel Hastings

published in UNKNOWN WORLDS, December 1940

They slink down furtive alleyways,

Shunning the corner lights,

Seeking the gloom of a somber yard

Instead of the moonlit heights.

Only their eyes glow like phosphorus

Steady, unblinking and sly,

Retreating with shadows that lost themselves

As a milk cart rumbles by.

Sniffing at this and sneezing at that,

Dainty, yet furtive and mean,

Matching their wits with the mongrel breed,

Licking their long whiskers clean.

The black cats of midnight are phantoms

Traveling on soft-cushioned feet,

Preferring dim alleys to arc lamps

That brighten the well-traveled street.