Blessing for a Cat
Blessing for a Cat
Bless this cat who spends her days
perfecting the art of taking a nap
with little concern for her human’s ways.
Bless this cat who spends her days
watching the windows for menacing strays
before curling up in the warmth of a lap.
Bless this cat who spends her days
perfecting the art of taking a nap.
Last Friday Fats at Gathering Books shared the poem, “Blessing on the Curl of Cat,” from Joyce Sidman’s lovely book What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms, and Blessings. The poem expresses a human’s wish to be more like a cat. The poem is absolutely wonderful and deeply meaningful, but I confess it wasn’t quite what I was expecting given the title of the post–Cat Blessing.
Meanwhile at her blog, Live Your Poem, Irene Latham posted her beautiful poem, “Triolet for Planting Day.” The repetition of the triolet form worked perfectly for her meditation on planting, echoing the repetitive nature of the work and giving the poem a calm, spiritual tone, like that of a blessing.
With these two posts in mind, I set about writing a blessing for a cat in the form of a triolet.
For more poetic inspiration, visit Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids.
Happy National Poetry Month!
Liz
Lovely, poignant verse and adorable pix. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you! We have a ridiculous number of pictures of her because she’s so photogenic!
This is cat-like perfection, Liz! I love it 😀
Thank you!
I think the triolet is perfect for this sweet pet blessing, with just the right amount of repetition and details (“watching the windows for menacing strays”) that show the cat’s personality. So touching!
Thanks. I find the triolet very tricky. I want to try some more. I thought the repetition might work well for a blessing.
Lovely.
Thank you!
Perfect! What a beautiful cat, too :).
Thank you! We think she’s beautiful too.
Yay–I knew you would come up with a line that worked!!
It came to me in the car while I was driving to my kids’ school!
Jama took the words write out of my hands!!! Love.
Thank you!
A nap is an artform I need instruction in. 🙂
She’s an excellent model but not a very good teacher. We just observe and appreciate her skill.
We live to worship, feed and vacuum. 🙂
Charming! Both your poem and the cat.
Thank you!
What a lovely triolet, Liz. So steady and cozy-but-distant-at-the-same-time. Love those menacing strays! Also, you probably already know this, but your blog is hard to read on some computers. I’ve only ever been able to see your posts on the very bottom of my screen, because your header doesn’t scroll up. So, for ex, I can’t see an entire cat pic or read the whole poem on the screen at once. Just thought I’d mention it in case you didn’t already know. I think it’s always been like this for me (through two or more computers).
Hi Laura, no I had no idea. Thank you so much for telling me. I really appreciate it.
Napping is an art worth perfecting! You have perfected the art of writing a triolet with this sweet poem. Love the pictures, too!
Ahhh….makes me want to go right back to bed. Oh, to be as relaxed as a cat. (Mine has his 20lb self curled up under the chair over there, white front paws tucked under white chin, orange ears twitching now and then…)
At our house we wonder what does one have to do in this life to be a domesticated cat in the next one?
My son-in-law has always said that he wants to come back as one of our daughter’s pets!
Don’t tell my kitties, Liz, but your lovely charmer is the most photogenic of all PF cats. Love the poem!
They truly do know how to purrfect the nap! Loved your triolet!
A wonderful triolet, Liz! Triolets and I don’t always get on so well, but this one works splendidly. I do think Triolet would make a good name for a cat, however. Your little goddess appears to be many times blessed. 🙂
It’s a lot of repetition for a short poem and not much room to turn around so the repeated lines can mean something different.
Yes! You put it into words for me. That’s exactly what’s going on.