--CATS SLEEP ANYWHERE:
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

--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

--MARIGOLD:
She moved through the garden in glory because,
She had very long claws at the end of her paws,
Her neck was arched her tail was high,
A green fire glared in her vivid eye;
And all the Toms, though never so bold,
Quailed at the marital Marigold.
- Richard Garnett
English writer

**********

--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. Jerome what to do about it.
I should ask St. Jerome, just because of that,
For he's the only saint I know who kept a kitty cat.
- Anonymous

**********

--MINNALOUSHE:
The Cat went here and there,
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearesr kin of the moon,
The creeping Cat, looked up
Black minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky,
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass,
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance Minnaloushe,
Do you dance?
- William Butler Yeats,
Irish poet

--THE NAMING OF CATS:

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.

There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.

But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?

Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.

But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.

When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

- T. S. Eliot

--CAT

Alluringly distant,
Seductively cool,
Disarmingly playful
But nobody's fool.

Endearingly willful,
Aloof from the crowd,
Bewitchingly haughty,
And famously proud.

This lovable tyrant,
Beguiles and unnerves,
And makes of his master
A minion who serves."

- Tim Hopkins
Lutton, Bedfordshire, England

"Miracles in velvet mittens; tumbled her, a pile of
kittens."

-unknown

A KITTY FROM HEAVEN....

The following story is claimed to be a "true" story about a pastor; but I think it just may be one of those "urban legends" that makes the rounds from time to time. Whatever the source, it is a story that is pretty funny, and since it is about a cat, I must share it with you now.
A man recently told a story about the pastor of his church:

He had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc. The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and drove away so that the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get the kitten.

He did all this, checking his progress in the car frequently, then figured if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved a little further forward, the rope broke. The tree went "boing!" and the kitten instantly sailed through the air and out of sight!

The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they'd seen a little kitten. No. Nobody had seen a stray kitten. So he prayed, "Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping," and went on about his business.

A few days later he was at the grocery store, and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. Now this woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, "Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?"

She replied, "You won't believe this," and told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her little girl, "Well if God gives you a cat, I'll let you keep it."

She told the pastor, "I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you won't believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of her."