11/8/11

I Like the Cat

I like the cat's tail
It goes swish, swish
I like cat's whiskers
They go twitch, twitch.
I like cat's eyes
They go glisten, glisten.
I like cat's ears,
They listen listen.
I like cat's fur
It's so soft, soft.
I like when cats jump
They go aloft, aloft.
I like cat's paws
They go pad, pad.
I like mysterious cats
They make sound just a tad, tad.
I like cat's mouth
It goes yawn, yawn.
I like all cats
This poem is gone, gone.

by bg, age ?
posted today in memory of Snowchin

12 comments:

Michael Fisher said...

Some nice Catz here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/nightjarflying?feature=mhee#p/c/42598CC40F3DDD47

Jean Kazez said...

Those are great! I will show bg and her brother.

crystal said...

Nice poem!

Another poem you might like - To A Cat by AC Swinburne. I posted it after my cat Kermit died ...


I
Stately, kindly, lordly friend,
Condescend
Here to sit by me, and turn
Glorious eyes that smile and burn,
Golden eyes, love’s lustrous meed,
On the golden page I read.

All your wondrous wealth of hair,
Dark and fair,
Silken-shaggy, soft and bright
As the clouds and beams of night,
Pays my reverent hand’s caress
Back with friendlier gentleness.

Dogs may fawn on all and some
As they come;
You, a friend of loftier mind,
Answer friends alone in kind.
Just your foot upon my hand
Softly bids it understand.

Morning round this silent sweet
Garden-seat
Sheds its wealth of gathering light,
Thrills the gradual clouds with might,
Changes woodland, orchard, heath,
Lawn, and garden there beneath.

Fair and dim they gleamed below:
Now they glow
Deep as even your sunbright eyes,
Fair as even the wakening skies.
Can it not or can it be
Now that you give thanks to see?

May not you rejoice as I,
Seeing the sky
Change to heaven revealed, and bid
Earth reveal the heaven it hid
All night long from stars and moon,
Now the sun sets all in tune?

What within you wakes with day
Who can say?
All too little may we tell,
Friends who like each other well,
What might haply, if we might,
Bid us read our lives aright.

II
Wild on woodland ways your sires
Flashed like fires:
Fair as flame and fierce and fleet
As with wings on wingless feet
Shone and sprang your mother, free,
Bright and brave as wind or sea.

Free and proud and glad as they,
Here to-day
Rests or roams their radiant child,
Vanquished not, but reconciled,
Free from curb of aught above
Save the lovely curb of love.

Love through dreams of souls divine
Fain would shine
Round a dawn whose light and song
Then should right our mutual wrong—
Speak, and seal the love-lit law
Sweet Assisi’s seer foresaw.

Dreams were theirs; yet haply may
Dawn a day
When such friends and fellows born,
Seeing our earth as fair at morn,
May for wiser love’s sake see
More of heaven’s deep heart than we.

Jean Kazez said...

Thanks so much, that's great. Poetry seems to be just the thing right now. I followed the link and read your post --such a nice picture of Kermit. I'm still looking for a good one of Snowchin.

Russell Blackford said...

Did you ever see this?

Cats

Virile lovers and rigorous scholars,
In their fruitful and comfortable years,
Love their strong, sweet cats - their pride -
Who are cool and contained ... much like them.

These comrades of learning and passion,
Seek the frightening quiet of darkness;
Bleakest Erebus would have employed them
As his steeds - if they'd stooped to his service.

As they ponder, they strike noble poses,
Stretched like sphinxes, in deepest aloneness,
Who sleep on in a dream with no ending.

Their athletic loins pulsate with vigour;
And fine little goldenish star-flecks
Glint like sand in their mystical pupils.

— (Loosely) translated by Russell Blackford from the French of Charles Baudelaire

Jean Kazez said...

Love it. Very much captures the noble and aloof Snowchin. We still have his brother Snownose, who is not so noble.

Wayne said...

Sorry for your loss.

Its kinda weird that we set ourselves up for this great pain and heartache when we welcome pets into our lives.... But we also get a few years of really great joy from it too. But I'm always dreading the day when I have to make a decision about whether or not my cat lives or dies.... I lost my cat for about 12 hours once.... He escaped into the backyard of my neighbor's house... And we live on a pretty busy road, so my cat could have legitimately been killed if he escaped our backyard.... So I have a hint of what that loss would be like already. :/

Jean Kazez said...

Thanks, Wayne. Sometimes people know their pet has a terminal condition, so they have good reason to "mercy kill," so the animal doesn't have to suffer at the end. Our problem was that we didn't know if our cat had a terminal condition. He just had once-a-day vomiting and weight loss. So we did one thing after another, finally resorting to surgery, in pursuit of a diagnosis. Even after the surgery, we didn't have the diagnosis, so couldn't convince ourselves to "mercy kill." Thus, we wound up in the very bad situation of having to see him suffer after surgery (and die), only to find out 2 days later, when the pathology report arrived, that he did have a terminal underlying condition (pancreatic cancer). Well, we didn't know it, and wanted him to have a chance of more life--he was only 9 years old.

Wayne said...

Well, good on you Jean. Sometimes I think pet owners euthanize their pets far too prematurely. Somehow the bar is lower for pets to be euthanized, compared to humans.

Pet health insurance keeps looking like a better deal for me, considering all the bills we've racked up for our two cats.

Jean Kazez said...

Yeah, Pet insurance makes a lot of sense! Our second cat is a very hardy fella, though. So maybe not for him.

This was a case where someone with "the wrong view" (animals don't really matter, killing them is trivial, etc) would have wound up with a better outcome. Cat's vomiting too much, house is a mess, let's euthanize right away! Bad moral reasoning, but in this particular case it would have prevented a final two hours that were really bad. Then again, he would have lost a few months that were mostly just fine. It's very hard to weigh 2 bad hours against 2 good months when the animal can't voice an opinion.

Wayne said...

I wonder how much cancer hurts.... I mean I know chemo hurts, and radiation hurts, but I don't know how much cancer itself hurts. In your cat's case, clearly, it was making him sick... but cats vomit all the time... (at least mine do).

Was he just not hungry and wasting away, not in much pain, just not interested or energetic enough to look for food? That doesn't sound horrible, if we're there to comfort and be with them. (I'm assuming cats like our affection, but I know not all do).

http://www.npr.org/blogs/mycancer/2006/09/does_cancer_hurt.html If this guy is correct, then the worst part of cancer isn't felt at all by our cats.

When I was in recovering from surgery, I was in some amount of pain, but really weak. That was frustrating. I can imagine a cat being frustrated at his inability to do what he wants, but is that really enough to euthanize?

I pretty much go through the whole thought process of euthanizing my cat whenever I hear about someone losing their own. Partly because I want to do it right, not too early, not too late, or if at all... and partly because I want to desensitize myself to the event.

Jean Kazez said...

I don't think he was in pain--not until the final couple hours of his life. He had seizures ... and it was awful. But up until then, no--he was out of sorts and getting lots of TLC, but I didn't see pain.

The whole idea of taking him in to be euthanized was completely appalling to us. Maybe when an animal is obviously suffering you can do that, but in this situation it just seemed inconceivable. I once had an SPCA worker in my animal rights class and she was the one who did the euthanizing. She talked about feeling like it was her job to do it well with tears streaming down her face. She also told stories about dumb, trivial reasons people would sometimes give for having their animals euthanized. All very eye-opening!