A Menagerie Friend

You were my familiar
A strange and cat-like companion
Courteous enough
And so not fully feline
With indifference

I had the sense
On our first meeting
To keep you secret-secret
...Secret

I did not want anyone
To talk me out of hearing
Your imagined laughter

I did not want anyone
To explain away your whispers
As merely breezes

...Or your smile
As a wishful thought

I did not want to question
Your wise insight
Your counsel which was
So often
The same as mine

When did you fade
...Where went the days
That somehow passed without you

...They escaped
Like pets
At incautious doors