Cattails in my Coffee

While calmly sipping coffee of a morn,
And contemplating on why I was born,
I watch the cat climb softly to my lap
To primp and preen, then settle down to nap.

As he begins to wash his whiskery face
He will not keep his wandering tail in place.
And while it's waving wildly in the air
I try to track it down-it's never there.

It wiggles to the left as I reach right
And rebounds again in rhythmic delight.
I resume my reaching as it rises up,
Then comes down to coil in my coffee cup.

The tabby turns translucent eyes on me
As if to tell me, "There! now do you see?
If not for you my tail would still be dry.
Why can't you humans be as calm as I?"

And cleaning caffeine off his copious fur,
He curls into a ball, begins to purr.
A call upon his dreams he plans to keep,
So he proceeds to promptly fall asleep.

~Sharon Brown~
(1975)

A Plea for a Cat

Would you care for me, as I care for my cat?
Oh, I know she is treacherous
and her thoughts go no higher
Than mice and milk
and a place by my fir;
She is getting old and fat.
But when I sit alone in my evening chair,
I stroke her fur
I like to know she is there
and to hear her purr.
Of course, you could not care for me
Like that!
I can not purr as flatteringly
as a cat.

~Author Unknown~

St. Jerome's Cat

St. Jerome in his study kept a great big cat,
It's always in his pictures, with its feet upon the mat.
Did he give it milk to drink, in a little dish?
When it came to Friday's, did he give it fish?
If I lost my little cat, I'd be sad without it;
I should ask St. Jeremy what to do about it;
I should ask St. Jeremy, just because of that,
For he's the only saint I know who kept a kitty cat.

~Author Unknown~

Little Ghost cat,
Your footsteps pit-pat
In the hallway of my mind
The kiss of air, whisper-soft purr;
I hear the echos of your purr;
See your pouncing shadow everywhere....
And smile through my tears.

~Author Unknown~

The big brave Angel cat, folding a rainbow wing,
Stretched out his gentle paw
I'll find, purred he,
A kitten-- you were kind--
You must not grieve for me.
This one might do, this timid little stray
Terrestrial night to my celestial day;
It cannot take my place,
No other could do that,
But though you cannot bring me back, you might retrace
Remembrance in a kitten's pansy-face.

~Jacintha Buddicom~
(b. 1901)

An Old Russian Prayer

Hear our prayer Lord, for all animals,
May they be well-fed and well-trained and happy;
Protect them from hunger and fear and suffering;
And, we pray, protect specially, dear Lord,
The little cat who is the companion of our home,
Keep her safe as she goes abroad,
And bring her back to comfort us.

~Author Unknown~

Cat Kisses

Sandpaper kisses
On a cheek or a chin -
That is the way
for a day to begin!

Sandpaper kisses
A cuddle and a purr.
I have an alarm clock
That's covered in fur!

~Author Unknown~

The Cats of Kilkenny

There once were two cats of Kilkenny,
Each thought thought there was one cat too many
So they fought and they fit,
And they scratched and they bit,
Till excepting their nails
And the tips of their tails,
Instead of two cats, there weren't any.

~Author Unknown~

A Cat

She had a name among the children;
But no one loved though someone owned
Her, locked her out of doors at bedtime
And had her kittens duly drowned.

In Spring, nevertheless, this cat
Ate blackbirds, thrushes, nightingales,
And birds of bright voice and plume and flight,
As well as scraps from neighbours' pails.

I loathed and hated her for this;
One speckle on a thrush's breast
Was worth a million such; and yet
She lived long, till God gave her rest

~Edward Thomas~

The Cat

Within that porch, across the way,
I see two naked eyes this night;
Two eyes that neither shut nor blink,
Searching my face with a green light.

But cats to me are strange, so strange -
I cannot sleep if one is near;
And though I'm sure I see those eyes,
I'm not so sure a body's there!

~W. H. Davies~

from The Kitten and The Falling Leaves

... See the Kitten on the Wall, Sporting with the leaves that fall,
Withered leaves--one--two--and three, From the lofty Elder-tree!
Through the calm and frosty air, Of this morning bright and fair...
--But the Kitten, how she starts; Crouchees, stretches, paws, & darts!

First at one, and then its fellow, Just as light and just as yellow;
There are many now--now one--Now they stop and there are none;
What intenseness of desire, In her upward eye of fire!

With a tiger-leap half way, Now she meets the coming prey,
Lets it go as fast, and then, Has it in her power again:
Now she works with three or four, Like an Indian Conjuror;
Quick as he in feats of art, Far beyond in joy of heart

~William Wordsworth~
(1770-1850)

Cats

Cats sleep, anywhere,
Any table, any chair
Top of piano, window-ledge,
In the middle, on the edge,
Open drawer, empty shoe,
Anybody's lap will do,
Fitted in a cardboard box,
In the cupboard, with your frocks-
Anywhere! They don't care!
Cats sleep anywhere.

~Eleanor Farjeon~
(1881-1965)

You have now learned to see
That cats are much like you and me
And other people whom we find
Possessed of various types of mind.

~T. S. Eliot~

Some pussies' coats are yellow; some amber streaked with dark;
No member of the feline race but has a special mark.
This one has feet with hoarfrost tipped; that one has tail that curls,
Another's inky hide is striped; another's decked with pearls.

~Author Unknown~

A Cat's Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas
and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring,
not even a mouse

'Cuz the cat had pounced on him
and tore him apart -
Ate his mousey intestimes
and chewed up his heart.

Kitty thought he heard sleighbells,
which made him take pause-
He stopped daintily licking
the blood from his claws.

"Must be Santa," thought kitty
(that quite clever cat)
'Cuz nobody else climbs down
the chimney like that.

Indeed it was ol' Santa,
so jolly and fat
With a huge load of presents
and all for the cat

"Wow, the best Christmas ever!"
Kitty thought with a purr,
Then he coughed up a hairball
and shed some more fur.

~Author Unknown~

The Cat of Cats

I am the cat of cats, I am
The everlasting cat!
Cunning and old, and sleek as jam,
The everlasting cat!
I hunt the vermin in the night,
The everlasting cat!
For I see best without the light,
The everlasting cat!

~Author Unknown~