Not So Easy

I watch my cat limp across the living room
try to jump on the once so easy chair

My mind leaps to an article I read
about a 6 year old child locked

in a basement for years
eating only junk food

and pissing on his mattress.
I wonder how many others 

aren't discovered at all and just
live out their lives that way.

I wonder how many people
and animals

are unnecessarily being
brutalized

Right now

And then  my mind leaps to Putin
and the Ukraine

Palestine and Israel.
The downing of planes.

The taking of lives.
The stopping of oil and gas.

And I wonder why
I haven't responded to my last

email.  Or text message
I watch my cat limp across the living room

try to jump on the chair
once so easy.

- Debbie Calverley