His Little Helper
By John Herlihy

On hands and knees, work to be done,
Cloud cover shuts out rays of the sun.
Rainy afternoon with time to spare;
The cat on his back without a care.
Sitting still, focused on its inspection;
On his knees working under its protection.
Lazy clouds move amid the rain’s patter;
He focuses in on an important matter.
Filling the wall cracks with cement paste;
The cat takes no notice of his chronic haste,
To finish the job before emerging nightfall;
The cat just sits there seemingly in thrall.
Staring into the distance as in meditation,
Not moving a muscle as if under sedation.
To think the imp has nothing better to do,
Perched on his back as though stuck in glue.
He takes comfort in the novelty of a cat’s way,
Providing warmth and friendship without pay.
His little helper purring loud enough to growl,
While he just works on, only wishing to howl.