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ON THE DEATH OF A FAVOURITE CAT
by Hilda Lunn
Since you have gone the sun has left the sky,
No breezes blow,
No birds sing To ease the aching vacuum in my heart.
I shall not forget your gentle ways;
No judgements made,
No difficult demands,
No needs save one,
To share your life with mine.
Now kind,
uncomprehending people say
Cheer up,
you’ll love another pet some day.
LAURA
by Gwen Lupson
White and black,
and ginger,
too,
A coat like silk,
a silent mew,
Eyes of gold,
a gentle paw,
Ears pricked high as through the door comes Laura.
At night,
she has her basket there;
But,
no,
she sleeps upon my chair,
Or,
up and down the stairs she runs;
It’s exercise and it’s such fun for Laura.
Sometimes my heart is very sad For a ginger fellow I once had;
God called him home,
he could not bide.
He left a pain I could not hide.
God saw my pain and to my aid He sent another He had made Who needed me to aid her,
too And so I started off anew with Laura.
BARNABY GOES TO HEAVEN
by S L Smith
Why is it mom can’t see me as I wind round her ankles?
She doesn’t pay me attention,
Great Bast how that rankles!
And when I try to exercise my needle-pointed claws,
It doesn’t make an impact on the drapes .
.. or couch .
.. or doors.
Well something’s very wrong here and I haven’t worked it out,
She doesn’t seem to hear me though I yowl and stomp and shout,
And mom cleared away the foodbowl as if I wasn’t there,
Okay,
I don’t feel hungry,
but it still seems so unfair!
What’s this?
She’s tidying my cat bed,
she’s put it out of sight,
Something’s going on here and it surely isn’t right,
And now my poor mom’s crying like her heart will surely break,
What is going on here?
Let me know,
for goodness sake!
She left the room ignoring me,
so to the door I raced,
But as though she couldn’t see me,
she just slammed it in my face,
Well I tried to dig my claws in,
came to a skidding stop,
I braced myself for impact and .
.. right through the wood I popped!
Ah,
things are making sense now and I think I get the picture,
It just happened so suddenly I didn’t have it figured,
So if you will excuse me,
mom,
I must be moving on,
But I’ll peek at you from heaven and we’ll meet again ere long.
…. Oops! I’ll have to add a postscript,
cos I’d hate you to not know,
Heaven’s quite a fun place (once you’ve worked out it’s time to go!),
But I really miss my cuddles and my cans of Uncle Frisk,
So mom,
when you come to join me,
can you fetch me up a dish?
* He lived his whole life in confusion and probably made a mess of passing over,
then tackled the afterlife with a similarly scatterbrained attitude.
If he comes back on visits as a ghost,
he’ll be the sort who can’t quite work out how to walk through walls.
DESDEMONA’S FAREWELL TO EARTH
by S L Smith
Farewell familiar Earth,
I am no longer prone
To Earthly gravity which weighs down frail flesh and bone;
My soul is lighter than the feather which on the scales of justice lies,
And now I dance on sunbeams beyond Earth’s cloud-studded azure skies.
A far more sad farewell I bid to those who loved me well,
For while I dance light-pawed in paradise,
my absence brings them hell,
Do not prolong your sadness,
for I know that ere too long we’ll meet again,
And you can rest assured that I’m gone far beyond all suffering or pain.
Do not feel guilty,
or think that I have felt betrayed,
Because you had to lend a helping had to ease me towards my grave,
And do not feel that you betray me when you take a new cat to your heart,
You will need mortal feline company to fill the time while we remain apart.
Farewell familiar Earth,
I am no longer prone,
To the pain of age,
and cancers which in my flesh had grown,
Now I dance on sunbeams beyond those broad cerulean skies,
And betimes I will gaze down upon you,
with gentle,
loving,
emerald eyes.
SOPHIE REMEMBERED
by Ruth M Bottomley
O lovely lady of soft white paws and golden eyes
Dreaming dreams in silver gardens of May moonrise,
Purring softly in summer’s shade through sunlit hours,
Breathing gently the sweet aroma of summer flowers.
On winter evenings you snuggled warmly upon our knees,
The music murmured,
the firelight flickered,
we took our ease,
Your beauteous face,
the mask of midnight and soft pink nose,
Such silken fur,
faerie whiskers and velvet toes.
Much joy you brought with loving glances,
enchanting play,
Until you rested on softest pillows at close of day,
Your sweetness lingers in every shadow as twilight falls
And we shall meet you to live forever in starlit halls.
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