delilah rose* poem 3

you just showed up one day.
your collar was old and chewed up,
like you had to bite yourself free
from something.

j thinks someone dropped you off,
like garbage.
you were alarmingly skinny,
with ancient sage eyes
and a cherub face.

you looked unloved.

my stomach still feels sick
when i think of how your
life must have begun.

you were not like the other cats
we knew.

you were not interested in cuddling,
let alone being touched.

some human must have
really done a number on you.

the word no made you panic,
even if said gently,
so we stopped saying it.
instead we snapped,
which kinda worked.
so our couch has a few
snags in it,
there could be worse things.
you ignored us-
but we cooed over you anyway,
my fluffy little sweet pea.

you would just sit there like a robot-
your back turned to us,
your piglet pink nose tilted up towards the sky
as we recited your name in high pitched
voices over and over:
de-li-lah….
DELILAH!
lila baby!
li-li!

if you could have given us the middle finger,
you probably would have.

you drove us to ridiculous degrees
with your uber cool cuteness and yoda ears.

as time passed,
the cold chunks of ice
surrounding your heart began to thaw out.

you’d allow us to pet you for over 60 seconds
on special occasions.

you started climbing on j’s chest
when he was napping on the couch.

those brief moments were like gold to us.

now,
one year later…

you are chubby and your coat is soft and thick.

you don’t have to scavenge for food anymore,
but we are the first to know when your bowl is half full.
there are parts of you that will always be stray.

we mix in hot chicken broth with your cat food
and you refuse to eat it any other way.
you seem to have forgotten your trash eating days,
which is a good thing.

we let you in and out all night without
a complaint.
you love the glow in the dark stars,
it is when you come the most alive.
your ancestors are wild after all,
and your spirit answers to the moon
and the tides.

i love you that
you creep in like a ninja
and eat roasted chicken in a tutu.

sometimes you answer to sweetie pie.

lately you have been climbing up
on my lap after j goes to bed…

the whole cottage is silent
except for your happy rolling purrs
and the faint sound of waves.

it is my late night heaven treat.
when i hold you this close,
i can feel where you got broken.
we are wounded in the same spots,
my sugared rosebud honey.
maybe this is why we both went looking for j?
maybe he was the only one who could see
through our icy hearts and get to the
warm, pulsing, vulnerable part…

the part that craves love,
even when we scratch and bite
and act like we don’t need it.

i look at you and wonder
how anyone could have been so careless
with your life,
my whirly swirl of sass.

it haunts me.

i don’t understand how a person
could harm such divine sacredness.
it makes me doubt humanity.
it makes me think the world isn’t
a very nice place.

so i hold you,
i hold you,
i hold you.
i hold you
till you have had enough already.
i wish i could rescue
all the abandoned angels-
the forgotton,
the beat-up, the fed-up.
the ones without the voices.

but i can only save you.

i hope that is enough.

***************************************************

ps for all you fellow kitty lovers click here for a good time.

22 Comments so far
Leave a comment

ghee hee that video is great!

Love these poems you write. their beautiful. btw delilah is so cute with her polka dot collar!!
xxx

both my babies are rescues-a weimaraner and a weim/pit mix. The mix was a mess-a bag of bones when we first got her, mangy and flea bitten, ridiled with mites and worms and just a general mess. The first time I saw her do a normal dog thing like s-t-r-e-t-c-h, I cried. It meant she was healing, that all her energy was not just tied up in ENDURING.

I so understand the importance of these sweet moments. Thank you for giving a home to this sweet one.

i am certain if li lila baby could write her own poem she would write “i am the luckiest kitty in the whole wide world to have you for my human”…
xoxo

oh, i loved this poem. loved the pictures of your beautiful kitty and loved the sweet and tender way you talked to her and about her. she is so lucky to have someone like you loving her every day. it was fun to get a glimpse into your life with her and how you’ve learned that she likes to be loved.

the way you love delilah seems to be the same way you love all humans: unconditionally, and with tenderness. it’s so beautiful.

ps: our girl kitty, diva, was found abandoned outside an opera house as a kitten and was a wet, matted, mewling mess when kirk found her just after she showed up at the rescue shelter. she’s eight years old now, but she’s still quite skittish if you try to hold her too close or too long. but she responds well to feminine gentleness, so she and i have adopted one another since i came into kirk’s life three years ago. she has stolen my heart!

reALLy touching, mcCabe.

beautifully/funnily written too.

babe, that picture of her in that tutu is just so wrong! hahaha….

many beautiful, heart-felt words… i love how you describe her and care for her. she is indeed, very lucky

xoxo

the
eatingchickeninatutu
shot
made
me
cry

Oh angel this is so so beautiful. I love the photographs-especially the last one-oh and the one with yoda ears too:)

What a soft gorgeous kitty.

The poem is amazing too.

loving you

I am a dog person, 100%. However, now, after reading your heart’s words, I think I am a little bit of a cat person.
I love this poemathon and I love you!

your poems are wonderful….seriously, submit them to a magazine for all the world to see !

Aww…your poetry moves my soul..my heart is open, and my tears are flowing.I have 6 felines, and once was up to 8, and they are all my 4 footed angels..I too wish that all of the abandoned and abused ones could have loving homes forever.And not have to have such sad beginnings ever in the first place.You are gifted with a kind heart and a way with words…thankyou sooooo much…there is a wonderful conscious community blog on News for the Soul here in western Canada…your poems would be so appreciated ….love and light peace and hope Linda Buffy in Canada…..and her 6 felines….feel the love…

i love how you describe her too.
and how you resonate with her wounded parts…and know exactly how she needs to be loved.

i giggled at the variety of ways you and j say her name.

i remember feeling totally honored that she let me pet her for 10 seconds and purred. she’s such a pretty kitty with a pretty mommy and daddy.

love.

mccabe,

‘splain the tutu, Lucy, I’m dying over here. Oh, what a rosebud she is and a more fitting momma and poppa she could not have found. Eva. You are divine darling. DIVINE!!!

i am in love……..ox kelley

i’m weeping.

i had an experience like this with my own cat, matilda…

i know what you mean.
that picture of delilah in a tutu is too much.
xo

My kitties also adopted us … the mother had her litter of kittens in our Barn the spring of 2003 — come Memorial Day Maeve the sassy one (daughter) will be 5 and Miss Kitty her mama will be 7. Miss Kitty was most likely left behind when a family moved up the street when they realized she was pregnant — and her “boyfriend/husband” the male kitty beat-up on her — she came to us with a notch out of one ear and a hair-line fracture to her right back leg. We took her to the vet and had her looked at. They said with lots of love and rest she would heal up just fine — and she has. Our house and home would not be the same without them — or my puppy who just celebrated his 10th birthday –although 10 in years he has the heart and spirit of a 5 year old. But, then again labs always do. Thank you for sharing your divinely blissfull full of love poem about Delilah … it made my day ~

Hugs to you both ……. be well. oxoxo

((((((Mermie Love and Delilah))))))))

That “bad kitty” video cracked me up!! SO CUTE. And this poem was precious. How I love little critters.

Incredible metaphor too, for how we interact with broken people who need persistent gentleness.

i had a cat adopt me about 10 years ago. he wandered into my little home. i was living by myself and was so sad i wasn’t sure how i’d get through another day. having Scoot around gave me something to live for. he saved my life. i had to have him put to sleep cos he got really sick. i miss him every day. thanks for this poem and for the reminder of just how beautiful and precious all life is

this is the best thing ever. you have inspired me. I LOVE my cats, Andrea and Chloe.. they are both rescues.. one a gorgeous, regal long hair black cat wtih peircing green eyes, and Chloe, a grey and peach sweetheart of a tortie… ahh… Delilah… what a gem!

meridia buy phentermine buy meridia web

This poem made the tears fall, especially the last few lines.

Two out of our three furries were strays…our cat, Desperado, and one of our dogs, Georgia Rose.

Your Delilah and our sweet babes may not have started out well, but the rest of their stories will be.

Bless you and your sweet and beautiful kitty.

This poem made the tears fall, especially the last few lines.

Two out of our three furries were strays…our cat, Desperado, and one of our dogs, Georgia Rose.

Your Delilah and our sweet babes may not have started out well, but the rest of their stories will be happy ones.

Bless you and your sweet and beautiful kitty.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

delilah rose* poem 3

Blogroll