Do you know a mother’s love?

You’re old enough, now, to know it for yourself;

I once shared your mother with you.

Some say animals don’t love as people do,

it’s sometimes true, but I loved you

far beyond when my kittens were grown and gone,

when you were three I draped in your lap, purring

even as knobby knees pushed my ribs,

and grubby hands grabbed. I loved you,

as love from a mother can only be;

without boundaries or limits, or species,

without expectation of reciprocation,

knowing my short life would never match yours.

I would never live to see you fully grown,

a kitten of your own, but sometimes, sometimes,

a mother’s love pulls me back from that rainbow bridge

and I love you only as a mother can, unseen, unfelt

but purring all the same.