Cat’s Love

 

"The cat is an animal that has managed to domesticate man. It is not man who has domesticated the cat, but the other way around. The cat has chosen to live with man, but on his own terms. The cat is an animal that has not given up its freedom, that has not given up its solitude.

And yet, the cat is capable of love. It loves with a passion that is almost human. It loves with an intensity that is almost painful. The cat loves with its entire body, with its entire soul. The cat loves without conditions, without reservations.

And when the cat loves, it is as if the entire universe stopped. It is as if time stopped. It is as if reality stopped. The cat loves with a purity that is almost divine.

And I, who have been loved by a cat, know that I have been truly loved. I know that I have been loved without conditions, without reservations. I know that I have been loved with a passion that is almost human, with an intensity that is almost painful.

And for that reason, I love cats. I love their independence, their freedom, their "loneliness. I love his capacity to love unconditionally, without reservations. I love his purity, his innocence, his divinity."

(This text is an adaptation of a fragment of an essay by Borges on cats, entitled "The Cat" and published in his book "Other Inquisitions.")