The poem
How neatly a cat sleeps, sleeps with its paws and its posture, sleeps with its wicked claws, and with its unfeeling blood, sleeps with all the rings-- a series of burnt circles-- which have formed the odd geology of its sand-colored tail.
I should like to sleep like a cat, with all the fur of time, with a tongue rough as flint, with the dry sex of fire; and after speaking to no one, stretch myself over the world, over roofs and landscapes, with a passionate desire to hunt the rats in my dreams.
I have seen how the cat asleep would undulate, how the night flowed through it like dark water; and at times, it was going to fall or possibly plunge into the bare deserted snowdrifts. Sometimes it grew so much in sleep like a tiger's great-grandfather, and would leap in the darkness over rooftops, clouds and volcanoes.
Sleep, sleep cat of the night, with episcopal ceremony and your stone-carved moustache. Take care of all our dreams; control the obscurity of our slumbering prowess with your relentless heart and the great ruff of your tail.
my cats are melted on the radiators in deep sleep these cold days- I look at them & see them as Neruda sees his cat asleep- their dreams taking them far far far away- & their bodies so fluid in this travel. How perceptive & imaginative is his description!
Wish I could read "Cat's Dream" in Spanish to know if Neruda referred to the cat as "it" (as translated) or "he" or "she".
I think it was probably the latter.
Sharon Azar
WOOF!
In Spanish, he uses "él," so it is "he."
I love this poem, i just got a cat and he is described perfectly in this poem.