Shadow our  cat

communicates with us

 

he realizes that we cannot

speak cat so he watches

our human behavior

and uses it to communicate

with my wife and me

 

if his food bowl

is empty he does not meow

he just goes and stands

by his bowl and stares at us

 

if he is ready for bed

he goes to the bottom

of the stairway and stares at us

until we join him

 

if he is ready for my wife

to do her morning exercises

he  stretches out on the mat

and stares at my wife to

join him on the floor

 

when it rains he goes outside

and gets soaking wet (which he loves to do)

then comes in and lets out

a blood curdling meow

and stares

until we dry him

 

if he wants us to get out of bed

in the early morning

we awake

to him standing inches from

our faces staring at us.

 

it is amazing how much more

guilty he can make

us feel with a stare

than if he knew how to speak

human language 

and yelled MOM!!!, DAD!!!