You're Like My Cat

You’re like my cat
Who will wrap her teeth around my hand and gnaw
I won’t jerk my hand away but instead I’ll look at her and tilt my head
As if to say, “why are you doing this to me?”
And she’ll pause, teeth still a centimeter deep in my skin
And look at me, eyes wide and confused
As if to say, “I’m sorry”
And then she’d use the gentle tongue that lay behind her cutting teeth
To lick my hand as if to say,
“Can’t you see how sorry I am?”
And thinking we had come to a truce, I’d rub my hand
Across the top of her head in consolation until
Her claws hooked onto me and she dug in once more
And I’d think “when will it end?”