Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Taylor D'AmicoOctober 09, 2018

        For Cricket, July 1996—February 2017.

“And all their echoes mourn.” – Lycidas by John Milton

I woke with Lycidas on my tongue, and I should have known.
My prayers for my ailing cat and empty womb had become twined
together, his dark fur falling to shadow as the months passed.

In my dream, I had stuttered the name, given it to my newborn, its body
turning to vapor as I stirred. The weekend we read Milton, that elegy
was waiting for me, my cat tottering as he moved toward his bowl

and then, his aching stillness, his labored breaths in my arms. I swaddled him
in linen when he passed, held him to my chest, and went out into the still morning.

My prayers for my ailing cat and empty womb had become twined

More: Poetry / Poems
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

As we enter into Holy Week, join America Media for a subscriber-only virtual event with James Martin, S.J., and ‘Jesuitical’ hosts Zac Davis and Ashley McKinless.
America StaffApril 01, 2025
“Having a sensory room in a place of worship is probably more important than anywhere else because everyone should feel welcome in their faith.”
Sean QuinnApril 01, 2025
Sports hasn't always been the most popular topic among America's editors and contributors—unless it was the Grand Old Game, baseball.
James T. KeaneApril 01, 2025
A joint Catholic-Evangelical report found that an overwhelming majority of people impacted by the Trump administration's mass deportations are Christian.