..Email Linda saveacat@kittenaideprogram.com
if you would like to share a poem or story about cats.
| Free-to-Good-Home
Perhaps a neighbor or co-worker or family member has a litter of kittens
they're trying to give away. Consider that taking one of these kittens
is encouraging the donors in their folly of failing to spay/neuter the
parent cat(s) with their "We always find homes for them" attitudes. Understand
also, that each of these "back-yard breeders'" kittens displaces a potential
home for a shelter cat destined for euthanasia. Of course, these kittens
if not spayed or neutered continue the cycle and add more unwanted litters
to the cat population.
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The Greatest Gift
I always knew this time would come,
From the very instant our eyes first met.
How I loved you then! How I love you now!
I made a promise then, and I keep that promise now...
You will not suffer from a pain that will not heal;
You will not know the loss of a life remembered, now gone.
It is for me alone to make this decision,
The price for the bright joy and pure laughter
You brought me during the time we shared.
I am the only one who can decide when it is time.
When my hope dies, and my fears ride high,
Just when I need you most, I must let you go.
It is for you alone to tell me when you are ready
For without your guidance, I will not know
When to lay my grief, my guilt, my anger,
My sorrow and my selfish heart aside
And give you this last gift, this greatest gift.
Your eyes will speak to mine, and I will know.
The pain of this moment is excruciating.
Tears stream down my face in a river of sorrow.
And my heart drowns in a pool of grief.
For you have spoken and I have listened,
And unlike other decisions I have made
This one brings no relief...no comfort...no peace.
For if there's one thing you've taught me,
If there's only one thing I've learned...
Unconditional love has a condition after all,
I must be willing to let you go, when you speak to me
I must be willing to help you go, if you cannot go alone.
And I must accept my pain so you can be free of yours.
Go easily now, go quickly now,
Do not linger here, it is time for you to leave.
Go find your strength, go find your youth.
Go find the ones who've gone before you.
You are free to leave me now, free to let your spirit soar
Rest easy now, your pain will soon be gone.
I pray I will find comfort in my memories...
In the dark and lonely days ahead.
I cannot say I will not miss you, I cannot say I will not cry.
For only my tears can heal my broken heart.
But, I promise you this: as long as I live,
You will live, alive in my mind, forever in my heart.
So I give you this last gift, all I have left to give,
And this will be my greatest gift...sending you away.
It is the measure of my unconditional love...
For only the greatest love can say,
"Good-bye, go find the bridge, we'll meet again,
Loving you has been the greatest gift of all."
Author, Karla M. Bertram
Author Unknown
Free Kittuns
From Jim Willis
An Essay by Jim Willis, Copyright 2002
The sign on the mailbox post was hand-lettered on cardboard and read
"FREE KITTUNS." It appeared there two or three times a year, sometimes
spelled this way, sometimes that, but the message was always the same.
In a corner of the farmhouse back porch was a cardboard box with a
dirty towel inside, on which huddled a bouquet of kittens of different
colors, mewing and blinking and waiting for their mama to return from hunting
in the fields. The mother cat managed to show them enough interest for
the first several weeks, but after having two or three litters per year,
she was worn out and her milk barely lasted long enough for her babies
to survive.
One by one, people showed up over the next several days and each took
a kitten. Before they left the woman who lived there always said the same
thing, "You make sure you give that one a good home - I've become very
attached to that one."
One by one the kittens and their new people drove down the long driveway
and past the sign on the mailbox post, "FREE KITTUNS."
The ginger girl kitten was the first to be picked.
Her four-year-old owner loved her very much, but the little girl accidentally
injured the kitten's shoulder by picking her up the wrong way. She couldn't
be blamed really - no adult had shown her the proper way to handle a kitten.
She had named the kitten "Ginger" and was very sad a few weeks later when
her older brother and his friends were playing in the living room and someone
sat on the kitten.
The solid white boy kitten with blue eyes was the next to leave with
a couple who announced even before they went down the porch steps that
his name would be "Snowy." Unfortunately, he never learned his name and
everyone had paid so little attention to him that nobody realized he was
deaf. On his first excursion outside he was run over in the driveway by
a mail truck.
The pretty grey and white girl kitten went to live on a nearby farm
as a "mouser." Her people called her "the cat," and like her mother and
grandmother before her she had many, many "free kittuns," but they sapped
her energy. She became ill and died before her current litter of kittens
was weaned.
Another brother was a beautiful red tabby. His owner loved him so much
that she took him around to meet everyone in the family and her friends,
and their cats, and everyone agreed that "Erik" was a handsome boy. Except
his owner didn't bother to have him vaccinated. It took all the money in
her bank account to pay a veterinarian to treat him when he became sick,
but the doctor just shook his head one day and said "I'm sorry."
The solid black boy kitten grew up to be a fine example of a tomcat.
The man who adopted him moved shortly thereafter and left "Tommy" where
he was, roaming the neighbourhood, defending his territory, and fathering
many kittens until a bully of a dog cornered him.
The black and white girl kitten got a wonderful home. She was named
"Pyewacket." She got the best of food, the best of care until she was nearly
five years old. Then her owner met a man who didn't like cats, but she
married him anyway. Pyewacket was taken to an animal shelter where there
were already a hundred cats. Then one day, there were none.
A pretty woman driving a van took the last two kittens, a grey boy and
a brown tiger-striped girl. She promised they would always stay together.
She sold them for fifteen dollars each to a laboratory. To this day, they
are still together...in a jar of alcohol.
For whatever reason - because Heaven is in a different time zone,
or because not even cat souls can be trusted to travel in a straight line
without meandering - all the young-again kittens arrived at Heaven's
gate simultaneously. They batted and licked each other in glee, romped
for awhile, and then solemnly marched through the gate, right past a sign
lettered in gold: "YOU ARE FINALLY FREE, KITTENS." |
When I Am An Old Cat
When I Am An Old Cat I shall wear
A diamond collar and leave my footprints
On white couches; I shall drink my cream with
A touch of brandy and spit out my vitamins;
I shall sit on the laps of dog people
Just to irritate them; I shall nap on top of the
Neighbor's' petunias and perch on top of
Birdbaths and grow charmingly chubby.
But for now I must tolerate the dog
And use my litter box and not sharpen
My claws on the sofa, so no one can doubt
The truth that cats are superior to dogs.
But every once in a while I wonder
If I should be naughty now and then
And nip a few toes, so my humans
Won't be too shocked when suddenly
I become an old cat and
Start to wear a diamond collar.
Author unknown
Poem made in ascii art by Cryssy.
See more poems done by her at
http://www.caninediabetes.org/rainbowmain.html
Put
Your Pet's Memorial on Kittenaide
Tender Hearts
A Tribute to Volunteers
I greet each day inside my cage
And wait for God to write my page.
I wonder if you'll come today,
And let me feel the light of day?
My whole life has been dark with pain.
And those who caused it -- what did they gain?
They stole my trust, my livelihood,
And all because they simply could.
I yearn to run through scented fields
Without a cage and lock to yield.
To chase a squirrel that can't be caught;
To earn a love that can't be bought.
But the darkest days have a light
In the quiet mornings that follow night.
You come to visit every day
Without a motive, without pay.
You carried me when I was weak,
Brought trust I was too pained to seek.
You healed my wounds that took their toll --
You rescued my slowly dying soul.
And now I listen for your voice,
Knowing that you're here by choice.
You didn't know me at the start,
And yet I'm planted in your heart.
I'm learning to accept your praise
And not avert my fearful gaze.
Forgive me if I cower still;
My life has been against my will.
I feel that you are growing tired
Within this fight that you've been mired.
If you can keep your doubts at bay,
It would mean the world if you could stay.
I can't predict how this will end,
But I know this of you, my friend --
You selflessly all played your part;
You saved me with your tender heart!
~ Dee Clair
"My husband said it was him or the cat...I miss him sometimes."
- Unknown
  
  
  
 
 
  
  
 
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