"The Cat" by Miroslav Holub

"The Cat" is one of those rare poems that reveals itself differently to everyone. All poems do this to some extent, but here it is so prevalent as to alter the meaning and remembrance of the poem. As I perceive it, "The Cat" expresses the desire to hold onto the present, to not allow it to pass into memory.

The first cinquain describes the subconscious and the memories of the mind. The world is dark, the substance of this blackness filtered from the city, which represents the experiences of the present. The second cinquain along with the next quatrain stanza express the desire of people to hold onto the present. These experiences will be "trapped" and "bewitched" within the night of memory if they leave. They will become "nothing."

The next couplet and following sestet then demonstrate the necessary fleeing of experience into the past and into memory. The repetition of "a black cat" in "the black night" vanishing reveals the nature of memories, that they all form the dark veil of past experience and new ones simply merge into the fabric.

The final sestet shifts the poem from a solemn mood to a bittersweet one: it illuminates the idea that memories never wholly disappear. Though not as whole or full or rich as on the day they were experienced, memories remain nestled within the deep depths of our minds.