Cat in an Empty Apartment
by Wisława Szymborska
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In this poignant poem, the Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska explores loss and grief from the unusual perspective of a cat whose owner has died. 'Die, you can't do that to a cat,' the poem begins, for a cat cannot understand death. In the empty apartment, 'nothing is different… but nothing is the same': nothing has been moved, yet 'there's more space'; no lamps are lit at night; the footsteps and 'the hand that puts fish on the saucer have changed'. 'Someone was always, always here, then suddenly disappeared and stubbornly stays disappeared.' The bewildered cat searches every closet, shelf and even 'under the carpet', scattering papers. Not understanding death, it can only 'sleep and wait' for the person to 'turn up', planning to teach him 'a lesson on what not to do to a cat' by sidling towards him 'on visibly offended paws'. Through gentle irony and understatement, the poem conveys the depth of the bond between humans and animals, and reminds us that non-human lives too feel loss in their own quiet, powerful ways.
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'Cat in an Empty Apartment' by Wisława Szymborska is a moving poem that portrays the grief of loss from the point of view of a cat whose owner has died. Through the cat's confusion, the poem gently explores absence, death and the deep bond between humans and animals.
A cat cannot understand death
The poem opens: 'Die, you can't do that to a cat.' From the cat's viewpoint, death makes no sense, for 'what can a cat do in an empty apartment?' It can only climb the walls or rub against the furniture. The person who has died is, to the cat, simply someone who has inexplicably gone away.
Everything the same, yet changed
The cat senses that 'nothing seems different here, but nothing is the same'. Nothing has been moved, 'but there's more space'; at night 'no lamps are lit'; the footsteps on the staircase are 'new ones', and even 'the hand that puts fish on the saucer has changed'. 'Something doesn't start at its usual time; something doesn't happen as it should.'
The heart of the cat's grief is captured in the lines: 'Someone was always, always here, then suddenly disappeared and stubbornly stays disappeared.'
The search and the wait
Bewildered, the cat searches everywhere for the missing person: 'Every closet has been examined. Every shelf has been explored. Excavations under the carpet turned up nothing.' In its distress, 'a commandment was even broken; papers scattered everywhere.'
Unable to comprehend death, the cat can only 'sleep and wait' for the person to 'turn up'. It even plans a small revenge, to teach him 'a lesson on what not to do to a cat' by sidling towards him slowly 'on visibly offended paws'. This touching, childlike expectation deepens the poem's sorrow, for we know the person will never return.