Today I went to a readers website called Catnabbit and discovered among other fun cat readings, this wonderful poem by “Shakespaw” that goes so nicely with this photo of Winston and Marty gazing whimsically at the outdoor world.

So I wondered…. who is this magnificent feline with the magical pen? Where does he place his litterbox? I wanted more…. MORE!

So I found this: Bella’s Scratching Post

Catlet’s Soliloquy

To go outside, Or to remain within:
That is the question;
Whether ’tis better for a cat to suffer
The cuffs and buffets of inclement weather
That Nature rains on those who roam abroad,
Or take a nap upon a scrap of carpet,
And by so dozing melt the solid hours
That clog the clock’s bright gears with sullen time
and stall the dinner bell.
To sit, to stare
Outdoors, and by a stare to seem to state
A wish to venture forth without delay,
Then when the portal’s opened up, to stand
As if transformed by doubt.
To prowl; to sleep;
To choose not knowing when we may once more
Our readmittance gain: aye, there’s the hairball;
For if paw were shaped to turn a knob,
Or work a lock or slip a window-catch,
And going out and coming in were made
as simple as the breaking of a bowl…
What cat would bear the household’s petty plagues
The cook’s well-practiced kicks, the butler’s broom,
The infant’s careless pokes, the tickled ears,
The trampled tail, and all the daily shocks
That fur is heir to, when, of his own free will,
He might his exodus or entrance make
With a mere mitten?
Who would spaniels fear,
Or strays trespassing from a neighbor’s yard,
But that the dread of our unheeded cries
And scratches at a barricaded door
No claw can open up, dispels our nerve
And makes us rather bear our humans’ faults
Than run away to unguessed miseries?
Thus caution doth make house cats of us all;
And thus the bristling hair of resolution
Is softened up with the pale
brush of thought,
And since our choices hinge on weighty things,
We pause on the threshold of decision.

-Shakespaw
Go to Catnabbit to read the original poem by “Shakespaw”. I hope the good folks at Catnabbit won’t mind terribly my re-printing the first bit of it here.

(ps) i went ahead and printed the entire poem here in the end -i love it so much i didn’t want to loose it.

Popularity: 4% [?]