Afraid of Losing It

recently i was cleaning my room
sweep sweep broom broom
crunch crackle crunch
I have a lot of fast food wrappers strewn on my floor

when from under a pile of dirty clothes
a realization came scurrying out
as fast as a dart of lightning
and jumped inside my jacket pocket

startled i tried to leap out of the way
but instead tripped over a pile of books
and fell backwards onto my bookshelf where
dozens of miscellaneous curios rained on my head
and landed in explosions of glass by my side

my cat asleep on the job sprung into the air five feet
landed like a ninja
and surveyed the ruckused room

after a few lengthy sniffs and perks of the ear
he lazered his sharp yellow eyes at my jacket pocket
where the fluffy epiphany sat trembling

despite the cliche
the tom and jerry fiction
there is some fact to reality
cats chase and kill like clouds breeze and rain and spin storm gray
that was no look of curiosity
but of sharp intentions and mindless instinct

how could i give over the tiny creature
to a predator
satiable only through blood
if i were it and it were me
what would we do
i thought
and concluded
exactly the same

later at the pet store
i asked if critters like it ever wore collars
so that if lost
someone could call me quickly and help me find him
the old man at the register laughed
throaty and cachinnate
as he returned my change for the hamster cage

at home i thought over the question again and again
and didn't see what was so funny
because i really was concerned about losing him
seeing a blur of fur swallowed into a pink jar
opened under yellow eyes
and gone from me forever