What became of Lu Xun's cat?

The following Poet-in-Residence poem was composed on viewing colour photographs of the back yard and the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant in a busy international city. The poem is dedicated to the world's unfortunate creatures; those which all too often suffer at the hand of man.

Lu Xun's Cat

Lu Xun beams brightly from the lanterned doorway
- his golden teeth flash morning greetings
to pin-striped suits striding office-bound
or on the way to shops or polished haircuts.

Lu Xun's albino cat, the shirt on the stick
with steaming hams, now fished from the pot
by Lu Xun's wife will be chopped and diced
and the pelt set aside for the boy on the bike.

White rabbit, brown dog and little bear
are safe today in the chicken-wire cage
out back where they smell the veg and curry
cooking; and wonder what became of the cat perhaps.

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***Please visit Poet-in-Residence's Austrian Times Newslink and read about Dr Martin Balluch, jailed animal rights campaigner, 100 days in an Austrian prison without charge or trial.