Second Thoughts

I might have named her Susan, yet

my first impulse — Beatrice —

seems cat more than human

Dante’s proof — his imperatrice

was first a boy child’s sexual itch

later a creature of godlike caprice

watching him arrive, the bitch

first scorns him, then demands

he apologize, pathetic wretch

for larking off to distant lands

instead of cleaving to his first

devotion — Beatrice feline

communicates in sudden bursts

of motion, first she’s a missile

next she’s a whirling dervish

I school her — Be not servile

but gentle, I first admonish

then send her down a level

Soft paws, I say, as garnish

I suppose, since first off

she doesn’t capisce the English

besides how do we know if

we’ve chosen, first second or last

the best companion — it’s tough

to guess before the role is cast