Michael McClure: The Cheetah

See the face
of a beautiful
and highly
intelligent
child
in
the
profile
of the cheetah.
SHE
IS
BEYOND
ALL
GOOD
and
EVIL
and more like us
than we can ever
imagine.

The black stripes
at the tip of her tail
twitch
and she closes her eyes
as my mother used to do,
with pleasure.

Her three large kittens
nod and grin in the sun.

What is human
is so much more obvious
in beings with tails.