Catullus, the Lowest and Last
Catullus, the aspirant Alpha, seems to have been taught in kittenhood by some catly Mrs. Norris (as Fanny was in Mansfield Park), "Remember, wherever you are, you must always be the lowest and last."
I wanna go to Paul's house every single day
Paul goes to work and I get to play
Sometimes he leaves me all by myself
I curl up and go to sleep right upon the shelf.
The other cats can't bother me, the way they always do
They won't let me eat, 'cause they don't like how I chew.
When the big ones give out treats, the others get them first
It's always been like this, I'm the littlest and the worst
But there's a secret place where I'm the best of all
I'll give you just a little hint: it's not far down the hall!
In my own special household, I'm the only cat
And you can imagine how much I do like that!
I do get rather lonely when Paul goes to work
Marshy is a fat cat, but Pindy is a jerk
Pindy is the first cat, I am number three
But I'm going to change that, you just wait and see!
I've been scheming, and I've come up with a cunning plan
I'm backed up by Paul, you know he is my man
I'm going to be Alpha, I'm going to be queen
And the others will be sorry they ever were so mean!
Pindar is a bad cat, she hisses very loud
She thinks she's so smart, she has stripes and she's so proud.
Marshy is much nicer, she likes to lick my face
She's the finest example of the Tortoiseshell Race.
"Pindy is a bad cat, she hisses very loud"
Pindy has some Bengal blood, it makes her tail curled
And she has the longest claws ever seen in all the world.
When we were only kittens, she used to like me
But now I'm sad, cause she's my Great Enemy.
Marshy gets along with her, but Marshy's pretty kind.
Everyone's nice to Marshy, cause she is fat and blind.
But I've had to fight hard for everything I've got
And I won't give up to Pindy, I certainly will not!
"Everyone's nice to Marshy, cause she is fat and blind"*
(*poetic license, she's just nearsighted)
That the line between our houses is drawn exactly here!
She can have the big apartment, that's absolutely fine
But Paul belongs to me, and his house is all mine!
Oh, I wanna go to Paul's house every single day
When Paul goes to work, that's where I wanna stay.
The other cats can visit, I'm not so mean as that,
But when I'm at Paul's house, I am Tully, Alpha cat!
- Catullus Cat Birchall
The beautiful eyes of the Marsh-wiggle
And now for the latest update on the thrift store addiction, er, habit!
Golden leopard kitten. Thai, perhaps? $3
Where the lamp sits (over Pindar)
Pindar sleeps
A carnival horse with ruby eyes. Ceramic on metal. Secret compartment under the saddle.
A French weasel (made in Carcassonne, $3) chases the horse
Old framed print of tortoiseshell mother and kittens. Pindy and Tully? $9
Gold-trimmed glasses and pitcher.
Crystal candy dish, a gift from Peter's mother, with pretty gold highlights.
To go with it, a crystal dish, with flowers cut in the crystal
I have a theory that crystal pieces like these are out of style. Perhaps younger people think of it as old lady stuff, and the older people who liked it are dying off so it's flooding the thrift stores. In any case, you can pick up pretty crystal for a song.
Glass salad bowl
Starry platter
Purple beaded shade on white Chinese lamp, keeps my desk from looking boring
Metal cat and Thai Empress cat, on Peter's bookcase
Where the crystal sits. Near the spring flowers, white and purple iris and daffodils.
Marshy on a new Pakistani 100% wool rug
6 comments:
Oh how I love the poem, the kitties, and the lovely pretties! :-)
Vera (now with not one but two eyes nearly glued shut, eeow eye infection)
Bravo, Tully! You not only compose poetry, you write it down. Obviously you are The Talented One!
You have much more exciting things than us in your thrift shops. I loved seeing all the books in your study. Glad Catullus is a poet lioke his namesake. It's a very good poem.Daphne
Lovely collection, and I can see you hae "book spill" as well.
Diana, how lovely! I found myself trying to read some of the titles on the shelves, in between admiring the gorgeous cats (did I see Trollope?) Also, how nice to see a photo of you - after enjoying your posts on Janeites for so many years.
Just beautiful photos - particularly the first one. We used to have three cats when I was a child and they hated each other - it was hilarious. They'd meet each other at corners as if they'd never seen each other before - hissing and spitting and carrying on like nobody's business. I do miss them dread-fe-bubbly. Our Tilly looked a bit like your Tully. Kit was a tabby persian cross and Yum Yum was a black cat.
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