WAKING UP TO ANOTHER RAVEN POEM    (3-7-2001; Galveston Island, Texas)

still asleep
i sensed his close
silent stare
i heard his comforting
steadily rumbling  inner
purr r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
as i felt his fine
double coated manx fur
on his warm
loving paw pad
gently touching my shoulder
then the rough  dry lick
of his sandpaper tongue s
sweet  tender cat kiss
upon my lower lip
to let me know he was there
so delicately trying to wake me

i slowly awaken
whereupon first opening my eyes
I looked up
into his close up  loving gaze
only four inches away
from his beautiful face
seeing my raven was there
gazing back into mine
staring so affectionately into my eyes
just like he does every morning
at or around
six a m

but then i glanced over
at my bedside clock
seeing it was only five thirty a m
oh well  what the hell
simply must be some kind of
feline daylight savings time thing
i figured and guessed
but now here after
the last few days
of my raven s
strangely peculiar
recently changed
new  much too early
near pre dawn
but still sweetly loving nonetheless
unexplainable
wake up time behavior
from out of which
i finally came to reconsider
and refiguratively decided
to reset my bedside alarm clock
back another half hour earlier
to more fairly and equally lovingly
better accommodate him
out of the deepest
of unspoken
but frequently demonstrated and shown
mutually shared and felt
unconditional loving acceptance
i have ever experienced
had or known
and out of my own
heartfelt  soul felt
deepest sense of gratitude
for the simple
equally unexplainable
truest undeniable blessing
of his  my raven s
ever having come into
and now years later here
still being in my life
the greatest  purest
uncomplicated
unconditional
natural love
and truest kindred
soul mate friend
i have ever
had or known
hands down over
any other
so called unconditional
mutually felt
experienced
shared and known
much more complex
and much less unconditional
more challengingly complicated
human loves and friendships
which so fickle
have consistently
more fully shown and proven to me enough
throughout my life s
long journey thus far
to so seldom ever truly be
so completely and mutually
as unconditionally accepting
or as naturally uncomplicated
much less as pure and everlasting
at and in the essence
of their innermost nature s core
in that same incomparable way
that my sweet  precious raven
has been  still is
and will forever be
throughout and beyond
the rest of our present
ongoing lives here
in this strange
yet beautiful
ever wondrous
mysterious
illusory
temporal
world
at all