Tom's Soul
All Tom's soul, a frightened, lonely, sad thing,
ever wanted was love. It only wanted a woman
to take it in her arms, and hug it, and kiss it,
and caress it, until all memories of darkness were gone,
and it knew on hugging,
and kissing,
and caressing,
until it knew only love.
But a woman did not take Tom's soul and give it love.
So,
of course, it died of thirst.
Possibly written for Tom, a yellow cat Brautigan wrote about in A Love Letter From State Insane Asylum saying "one day he went away. He never came back home again."
14.06.2026
@richard-brautigan