Cat or Moon?

I have always thought that my personality matched that of a cat. Until late January 2006, when I met someone who called me Chand (moon). Cold, unattainable, to be admired from a distance, he said.

Is that how people see me, I wondered, not my close friends surely? I have always loved this poem from Yeats "The Cat and the Moon", and his words led me back to the perfume-scented pages of my book.

When two kindred spirits meet, can one be aloof like the moon, while the other is troubled by his animal blood? Yeats thought so. Can the moon come down to earth, and be anything else but distant?

Kindred spirits who recognise their special bond have Fortune on their side. For one precious moment in life's journey, they crossed paths.

My kindred spirit believes it was his misfortune to have looked upon me - having known me, and not being able to keep me. Sad, to be considered a bringer of misfortune.

If I am really Chand, and have to look from a distance at my kindred spirit, then I would wish him all the happiness in the world. I would pray that he looks at me from time to time, and revel in what little light I brought into his world. I would be in my cold universe, surrounded by distant stars, hearing the music of the faraway earth, going through my phases. I would wait to catch a glimpse of the cat that gazed upon me with a multitude of fiery questions in his changing eyes.

Alas, the cat cannot hear the moon reproach the universe she spins in for the distance between kindred spirits.