Born cold and mewling
behind a garbage can
orphaned at five weeks —
streets do what they do.
Nourished with milk
of human kindness
on her first birthday
caged but not frozen
Gifted to the cat savers
hissing and clawing
a practiced grumpet
a high-ledged watcher
Cleaners feeders
come and go
Still she watches
Until she sees her
The one who sings
and is kind to
the floor-leveled ones
each week she comes
Down the kitty
spiral staircase
she walks, stops, stares
And mews to her
Souls connect
symbiosis
That’s how things go
With cats and humans
Now one sings and writes
while the other
dreams of happy kittens
at play.
Anmol (HA) is the host of dVerse today and says:
Your prompt for today is to consider the nature, lives, times, et al. of our feline friends/enemies/gods/children.
The story told in the poem is my cat’s bio. The “cat savers” named her Crumpet the Grumpet because of her scratching and biting when she first got to the shelter. Once she came home with me and was out of the stressful environment, she was fine, a real lady. I changed her name to Mlady Crumpet. As she has an hourglass on her face, my daughter in-law said Chronos, so… her name stands at Mlady Crumpet Chronos.
I couldn’t resist adding a youtube preview of an EXCELLENT documentary on the city cats in Instanbul, called, “Kedi” which is cat in the language in Turkey. If you like or love cats you will adore Kedi.
I wrote a cinquain after watching the doc here.
Tao Talk 
Very sweet poem.
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<3 Thank you Sadje.
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A pleasure Li
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This is heartwarming — the stories of rescued pets give me hope. A bit of kindness is all that is required for building that connection. I love how you refer to it as a “symbiosis”.
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Thank you and in agreement with you, Anmol.
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Nice video Li.
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Thanks Jim. Her little bed is right beside me when I’m writing. She has 6 favorite sleeping places in the house.
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This is so sweet.. both the saving and the transformation (and of course the naming of the cat)…
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Glad you liked the poem. I started volunteering at the shelter last year, after retiring, as my son and his wife have been volunteering there for years. It was a way to see them more often and also help out with the critters. I didn’t have an intention of adopting a cat when I started, but then Mlady came along.
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Love this, “ a practiced grumpet, a high-ledged watcher” sounds like maybe you both were rescued.
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<3 Indeed, thank you.
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Beautiful <3 I'm glad you found each other!
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:) ditto! Thank you, dear.
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Over the weekend, we rescued two kittens. They are about a month old. They are feral. They are frightened. They are hiding in the bathroom under the sink. They only come out to eat and use the litter box. If one of us goes into the bathroom and they are at large, they quickly run back to their hiding place. Is this a forever situation? I’ve always loved cats. We already have two adult cats. I don’t know what to do. Any advice? Thanks, Russell
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Bless your heart for rescuing them. It’s impossible to say whether they will “get over it”, but the chances are good that they will, especially being kittens. Time is the great healer. Just sitting quietly in the same room with them, without the other cats around is a good idea. As they see you mean them no harm, you can try to coax them out with tasty bits of food from your hand. It won’t happen overnight!
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Yes. I actually fell asleep on the toilet the other day. When I woke up, they were stirring about; however, once they saw ME stir, they bolted back to their hiding place. I understand that time takes time. On the other hand, this is my first experience with really feral cats. I’m used to playful and adorable kittens. This experience is drawing on every drop of my patience. I just hope that if I continue to show them love that they will eventually respond in kind. Thank you for the advice.
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Russell, you may want to take them for a vet check as they could have some contagious conditions your other cats could be harmed by. Also, they have a spray of some kind that calms cats, and also herbal calming collars. I only know about all of that from working at the shelter.
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Yes, I’ve already made an appointment for them for next week. Until then, they are under self-imposed quarantine. Thanks so much for your concern. It really means a lot to me. Best wishes, Russell
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You are more than welcome. Have you decided on names for them?
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Right now we are making due with 1 and 2.
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Like Dr. Suess’ Thing 1 and Thing 2! I love it <3
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This was a wonderful poem Lisa, full of great heart. The video was hypnotic. The paw and tail tick were a special little payoff to watching. :-)
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Rob glad you liked the poem and video. Yes, the payoff was worth the price of admission :)
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A lovely slice of your life. Cats do like cat poles with high ledges, so that they can be worshipped on high. It was so great to hear the cat chose you; that always garners the most rewards.
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Thank you for your wonderful comments. The shelter includes two large rooms with the walkways up by the ceiling. It also has cubbies, tent-beds, raised tables with beds on, etc throughout the open house in a residential neighborhood. The most scared of the bunch hide up on the top areas because you have to use a step stool to get to them. In one room there is literally a cat spiral staircase they use to get up and down from it.
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Loved the video and the poem. Especially these lines: “a practiced grumpet
a high-ledged watcher”
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Thank you, Judy, glad you enjoyed them.
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I love your poem that shows how love can change everything! Such a great story!
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Yes, Dwight, it surely can. Glad you enjoyed the story and thank you.
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You are welcome!
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Beautiful story :)
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Thank you, Pratibha.
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a delightful meeting of two souls, so well composed
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Kate, thank you.
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Definitely a cosmic connection! (K)
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Yes it is. It has always been like that, with them choosing me. True story: way back when, I was trying to decide whether or not I wanted to bring a child into this world. I remember asking for a sign. Soon after (within days) a beautiful black and white cat walked down our driveway, very pregnant. To me that was my answer!
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That’s a great story!
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Thanks K!
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This is delightful. Cats are choosy creatures.
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:) Thank you.
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