understanding cats

the cats told me in many words
at least in two or three
that they were hungry as a cow
as hungry as a tree

they talked to me without my words
they only used their own
they did not use the television
or the telephone

i understood their talk as if
a light had been switched on
i never learned their language
but i took the first lesson

but that was long ago and now
the thought of it has fled
and so i cannot understand
a single word they said