Mamma Kitty's Day

I don’t ask for sympathy, no, not today,
It’s been two years now since she died and I just want to say -
Today is Mamma Kitty’s day.
A day to remember that she was the best gift that spring ever gave;
She came to our back door, belly full of kittens one February,
Looking for a home and yes, we gave it to her, that little farm cat.

She had a craggy meow, a Sherlock-marked tabby coat of rainbow,
She was fierce and courageous, a warrior queen to be sure -
Yet also she was loving, a queen that way too.
I’m not good at poetry, I’m sure you can tell, but this cat didn’t just raise Smokey;
She raised us as well.

She’s passed on now, her loving presence gone, but I will always remember her
And the paw prints she left upon my heart.
Though now she roams across the bridge in her garden, the garden of her youth,
I still remember how she used to bump her head against my hand,
Nipping it painfully with her teeth if I wasn’t paying attention enough, as if to say -
“Hey, you’re not petting me enough.”

I regret sometimes now that I ever suggested renaming her ‘Grunge,’
For her love of rolling in the dirt but it never stuck and
Mamma Kitty will always be Mamma Kitty and her paw prints?
They will always be on my heart.

Smokey grows old now and yes, Sunny too and I worry for their deaths,
But I know, that at least Mamma Kitty is waiting for them, as she waits for all of us;
But… if she is not… if she has passed on from that too… I won’t fault her for it.

But Mamma Kitty, I miss you and you are the warrior of my heart.
Today is your day girl and I at least, remember you.

Rest in Peace, brave killer of pheasants and lover of dirt baths.
I love you.



1996 - June 2nd 2009