Escher's Cat

ascends stone stairs stepped
in ceaseless four-sided cycle,
searching for his master,
his scent, his voice, his lap

laps round to the stairs' start
to be split by a ray of light,
multiplied, rotated, translated,
a tessellated tapestry of paws

scrambling for purchase,
transposed into a stream
forever filling and filled by
the plunge of a waterfall

falling, feet first, neatly,
into Escher's waiting hands,
stroked, soothed, settled
into drowse, ears scratched

the scratch of pen to paper
as Escher's hands lift out
of the page, draw each other,
pause to pet the napping cat.