Virgil is a Cat

Abigail Smith

A thin, muscular feline skinned through the grass. If you squint, he looks alike to a snake.

Grey cat speckled with black splotches the color of dried peppercorns arranged himself into the shape of a loaf. When approached, he does not wish to socialize.

I feel a pair of emerald eyes piercing the small of my back. My head turns, assuming my admirer is positioned level to the ground. An ebony cat suns, watching me like I’m his prisoner.

A group of scholars, scrittura creativo. Past the castle. Capitoline. Cats. Wait, cats?

Looking over the edge, elbows downward turned, orange bubbles rise from our stomach to our vocal chords.

The strength of an Aperol Spritz coupled with the sheer wonder of a tourist; we’ve stumbled upon a cat sanctuary in the midnight hour. Their tiny paws dart through marble. A home of antiquity and security among an impressive display of ruin.

Trudging through a museum, row after row. Pot, pan, poker for the fireplace. Finding myself outside, I place myself in an apparition, I am outside of myself. Suddenly, I am fluent in Latin.

“Here lies the fluffiest cat known to man. Circa 100 B.C.” the tiny tomb reads. A noble place of rest for a feline companion, who most likely spent a life nuzzling in the folds of a Roman toga.

I am phoning my mother, and my cat. He meows, and I almost return his call. I think of the pillars, in which Julius Caesar was sent to heaven. Those cats now have their haven.

My pen kisses the paper. Scritch, Scratch. As I finish this very piece, this poetry of my thoughts, I sigh, relieved.

I close the cover, laying my notebook to rest. On the cover sits Virgil with whiskers like a toothbrush and a nose like cotton candy.

Virgil is a cat.

Abigail Smith is a fourth-year Honors English (Creative Writing) major with a minor in Business, and is the Managing Editor of Bricolage. She loves creating, imagining, and travelling. The pieces she submitted reflect collisions she has experienced abroad, in the Eternal City (Rome). She strives to continue writing creatively and purposefully throughout her life.)