last night

a hole in the sky appeared

and three kittens and their mom

fell through

the sunset kept to itself

as usual,

but performed a magnificent dance

and a doe observed

this is how it went:

"i don't like to kill a cat" he said

gesturing toward his standardbred

"my horse might die."

a profoundly buddhist statement by a young amish man

who dumped a mama cat and her babes

in the meadow near the roadside.

with apologetic smile he tried to explain:

"the farmer i work for don't like cats"

i was angry, left with a dilemma not of my making

what to do with four cats?

i mean, i'm going to australia tomorrow!

he had dumped them, pulled off, and came back, to explain to me.

"i don't like to kill a cat"

his employer,

a man i can't respect

put this young man in this position.

the farmer could have taken these cats to the shelter

(he knows about shelters, the amish man doesn't)

or tried to find homes.

"i don't like to kill a cat" he said

but he picked them back up

and drove off,

to find an ethical solution.