We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage / And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die, / We Poets of the proud old lineage / Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why ... (James Elroy Flecker)

19.4.21

Wanting to Show My New Cat to My Mum

 Wanting to Show My New Cat to My Mum

I find myself wanting to show my new cat 

to my Mum, picturing how she will like

this one in particular, so pretty and sweet;

and it’s only idly, later, I remind myself

my Mum has been dead since 1998,

and we were never all that close anyway,

couldn’t get over our suspicions of each other

(coming from being completely different 

kinds of people and never finding the right 

manner of talking together) but I’ve surely 

had enough time to get over all that, and 

I dare say she will have too, where she is:

I’m sure people rise to their highest and best

after shuffling off this mortal, and can 

love so much more; and she did after all 

like cats – though probably dogs 

better when I come to think of it – well,

regardless, I wish I could show her.

 

Poetic Asides prompt #19 for April poetry month of 2021 is to write a poem with an animal in the title.


18 comments:

  1. I like this I feel something simular, although my mum is still alive. Wanting to share but having some reservations being different people. But I can at least still share. Love cats as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad for you that you can still share with your mother, to some degree at least.

      Delete
  2. A pure and natural urge, so innocently poemed.
    Happy Sunday

    Much💜love

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Gillena. Kind of you to read and comment, when you are still dealing with the loss of your own mother.

      Delete
  3. My mom and I are very different people too. LOL, and a fair amount of what I find interesting puzzles her and vice-versa. But even still, I know what a privilege it is to get to talk to her.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I always want to show or tell stuff to my sister. I do hope they rise to their highest and best and can see things now that they couldn't then.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm what's known as a psychic medium, and it's my experience that they do.

      Delete
  5. Oh, Rosemary, I love this poem.
    "I’m sure people rise to their highest and best
    after shuffling off this mortal, and can love so much more" My own relationship with my mom is complicated but I finally decided that showing her a little grace and hoping she would do the same for me has helped. You are a very wise lady.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wish I'd been wiser and more gracious while my Mum was still alive! I'm sure you'll live to be very glad of your own decision.

      Delete
  6. i am sure you are still thinking about your mum very much.
    well, show her your new cat.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Death often changes things for the living. So, it makes perfect sense that it might do the same for the dead. Perhaps, when mortal things--like you say--aren't part of the equation, a heart can be all grace. I bet she would love the cat.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mother-daughter relationships are often complicated. I have often said my mother was like the mother hen who hatched a gooseegg, looked at it in amazement, thinking "Where in the world did THAT come from??" I loved her dearly and admired her much, but I never felt I quite measured up in her eyes.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ah, what a cat can do. My grandmother had a pet magpie which used to sleep with her cat! Couldn't go near the cat when her protector was about for fear of losing a finger.

    ReplyDelete

DON'T PANIC IF YOUR COMMENTS DON'T POST IMMEDIATELY. They are awaiting moderation. Please allow for possible time difference; I am in Australia. ALSO, IF YOU ARE FORCED TO COMMENT ANONYMOUSLY – do add your name at the end, so I know it's you!