Fifteen years until now.

Steven just wrote this tonight:

I am finding it hard to forgive you
For leaving us in the lurch
So suddenly

Or was it we who did the leaving
Day after day
Out the front door we'd go
Into the Void.
How else could you see it?
How could you know we'd come back?

Now it's your turn.

We miss you, sweet pea.
Epitome of faithful, paragon of friend
Gold-medal homebody
Always here for us
Fifteen years
Until now.

You were not generous with love
You treated it, and us, more carefully than most
And that was your great talent.

Nurse Alice
Doling out doses of affection
Just enough, when needed
Was more than enough always.
You healed all our hurt
With tender nonchalance
And casual furry grace.

Cuddly, not.
Snuggly, barely.
More spice than sugar
Fuzzmuffin, you could sure lash out
More prizefighter than diva
(Though you had the girth for either label.)
Or maybe you were just a type A control freak.

Where could you have learned such behavior?

From a box of sibling rivalry
That Brooklyn day
Out you lept, spidery kitten,
smelling our aromatherapy candles and good soap.
You knew somehow you'd get a good deal.
We got the better one.
And to think I didn't want you or your kind hanging around
That is, until I saw you.

And then?
O adoration! O boundless and effortless love!
Our first and only charge, our little cutie.
Alice Jackson.
A name to accommodate whoever you became:
Cute little Alice
Big fat Alice.

What foresight we all had!

You got your great adventure, and so did we.
We crossed a continent
an ocean
a channel
together, us three.
You made every place into our home
Just by settling in, on the rug.
Kittyloaf.
Anenome Face.

Through it all
Your tastes were simple:
You loved the water
And patches of sunlight
And shady spots beneath the flowers.
And nibbles of lettuce and grass
And tuna juice
The sound of the can opener
And of us coming home.

What was it like
When you were alone
Were you contented, relaxed, napping and dreaming?

Did it still feel like home
Or was the house devoid of comfort
Bereft of its soul?

I remember times in the night
You'd forget we were in the next room
And you'd cry out, a long drawl of a howl.
So sad
So lonesome.

So relieved when we called your name.
Your little chirp of gladness
The thump of you landing on our bed

Gone now.

We still see you out of the corners of our eyes
Afraid to turn our heads and look
Lest you disappear again.

We miss you Miss Alice.
We miss you kitty.
We forever miss you.