A Feline Day
(fairly typical in the Wayland-Larkin five-cat household)
Step boldly, look sharp! Leap through the dark
into bushes. And breathe. Taste the air.
Step lightly, unseen. Ooze over green;
pool into place and wait there, flehmen.
Fleet-footed arrow, razor-clawed charge,
pursuing on silent, velvet paws.
Poison saliva injected fast
sends prey into shock, then death throes pass.
Step lightly, discreet; teeth clamping meat
to be gifted. Dead, long-tailed favour.
Sleep soundly, secure; happy dreams pure
as owner inters gift in garden.
Step boldly, look sharp! Leap through the dark
into bushes. And breathe. Taste the air.
Step lightly, unseen. Ooze over green;
pool into place and wait there, flehmen.
Fleet-footed arrow, razor-clawed charge,
pursuing on silent, velvet paws.
Poison saliva injected fast
sends prey into shock, then death throes pass.
Step lightly, discreet; teeth clamping meat
to be gifted. Dead, long-tailed favour.
Sleep soundly, secure; happy dreams pure
as owner inters gift in garden.
2 comments:
I like this too -but what is 'flehmen'
My old cat always used to leave the bitter gall bladder out of his prey after she'd eaten the meat.
I like the first line of the last verse: 'Step lightly, discreet; teeth clamping meat'
Aha! Well, flehmen is pretty much an echo of what the cat seems to be doing a couple of lines before - tasting the air. They have a special gland in the roof of the mouth for detecting prey (I vaguely recall that it's something beginning with 'v' that sounds like a derivative of 'vomit' - but the easy name is 'Jacobson's organ'). They have to open their mouths, and some animals, such as horses, noticeably curl their lips back in order to allow greater access to the gland. Apparently, it's not unlike the sneer expression of distaste in humans. I actually used the wrong spelling in the first draft, saying 'phlegming', as though the happy hunter had cattarh!
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