Whiskers over Moustaches

Dalí and the cat met for the first time
on one wall, among the many walls
of an old art gallery
neither of them understood 
why they had been placed next to each other
the cat felt intimidated by its neighbour’s reputation
Dalí was merely annoyed

with its back turned to the visitor’s eye
the cat curled its tail
and sat still, contemplating
picturing itself chasing flies
and bathing in the sun after closing hours

Dalí was rather preoccupied
would the people coming in today 
grasp the essence of his genius
or would he once again be misunderstood
and dismissed as an extravagant quirky man?
he knew, however, 
that yet another remark about his moustache 
will drain the juice out of his death

as the first visitors began to arrive
tension gradually rose in front of the aforementioned wall 
there was a lively debate underway 
about a black cat and why the artist
might have painted it with its back to the world
was it a protest against animal cruelty? 
or was the cat staring into humanity’s future?
what could the human mind learn from it?

and so it went on for hours
while, next to the crowd, indignation and revolt
melted the ground
until elephants, tigers, and clocks
all slipped through the hole

(July 2019)