Cat-Watching

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The dog may be wonderful prose, but only the cat is poetry. ~French proverb

Like a cat
I sometimes
Curl up in
A sunny
South-facing
window and
Nap or read
(Sometimes both!)

I find it
Soothes me and
Readies me
To face the
Remainder
Of my day.

How about
You? Are you
A window
Napper, too?
Or maybe
Only a
Cat-Watcher?

37 thoughts on “Cat-Watching”

  1. Me, too! I love your poem. Napping and/or reading in a patch of sunlight is one of life’s greatest pleasures. And watching cats is always fascinating. I have never come across that French proverb before — it rings true. ☀️

    • Thanks, Barbara. I’m glad you liked it! As a child, I hated naps, perhaps because my mom insisted we take them (even promising a quarter to the one who fell asleep first). Needless to say, I never won the money, ha!

    • Frank, it seems naps are the reward for either working solo or retiring. Although I used to work for an older lady who regularly sneaked into the women’s room after lunch to snooze on the sofa there (after reminding somebody to wake her in a half hour or so!)

  3. Debbie, this was AWESOME! As you know, as well as being a dog-lover, I’m a cat-lover too. So yes, during the colder months, I love curling up/napping by a window, allowing the sun to warm me. That’s also one of my favorite things to do sitting my favorite park on a bench, when it’s cold outside. I love the feeling of the warm sun on my face. Nothing like it!

    Great photo capture! Happy Sunday and St Patrick’s Day, my friend! X

    • I’m glad this one resonated with you, Ron. I’m definitely a sun-person. I really could care less how cold it gets in winter, if only there’s sunshine. Lately, we seem to be getting a lot of warmish days that bring rain and clouds with them — not particularly conducive to walking a long-haired dog!

      Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you, too, my friend! xx

  5. Except in the coldest weeks of winter, I always prefer shade to sunshine, but Dixie Rose? She loved the sunshine. Every year I laughed at her as the movement of the sun eliminated the sunlit patch on the bedroom floor where she’d curl up. She’d walk to the now-sunless patch, look at me, and whine, as though I was the one who’d taken her sunshine away! I always thought her meows could be translated as “Bring that sunshine back — now!”

    • Even though I’m not a cat-person, I think I’d have related well to Dixie Rose! And on these days when there’s a definite chill in the air (we had the first of three cold fronts to move through overnight), I cherish those sunny patches.

    • You too? Isn’t it just wonderful, finding a nice place to soak up some sunshine, preferably without worrying over getting sunburned, too?!

    • Laurie, Monk definitely runs off all the cats that dare enter his back yard! As for the front yard, that’s off limits (it’s not fenced), and you should see how perturbed he gets when he sees one lurking there. You can almost see the sparks flying out of his furry ears!

  8. Love this poem! That cat seems to be watching Monkey just as closely as Monkey is watching it. Tell him to be careful. Those claws are sharp! I don’t normally seek naps, but they sometimes find me and I don’t fight them. 

    • Thanks, Kelly — I’m glad you liked it. I wish I knew what poetic form it is, though. It just kind of came to me while I was walking — probably the way naps come to you when you least expect them! Thus far, Monkey hasn’t tangled with a cat, but I shudder to think what might happen. Many of those cats seem more than capable of defending themselves!

        • It would make sense for anything that doesn’t fit a specific pattern or meter. I use to follow a poetry blog called Free Verse, but sadly it went silent.

  11. Just thinking about you and praying for the Lords comforter to cover you with peace! Glad monkey is there with you! Don’t forget to take those beautiful spring flower pictures you take.

    • Thanks very much, Tanya. Good days and not-so-good. Losing your mom isn’t for the faint of heart (like we’ve got a choice in the matter!). You’re right: Monk has been a big comfort — and distraction. He seems to sense when I need cheering up. I’m eager to get outside — when it warms up a bit — and take those Spring photos!

    • FF, you’d have liked that kitty — he had beautiful, non-blinking eyes that seemed to dare Monk to follow him. I hate to imagine the mischief those two could have come up with!

  13. I absolutely love that photo of “the stare down” of dog and cat!! The poem is great!

    Oh yes we are indoor sun bathers in our winter south windows. My font east facing window, we lay on the bed watching out. I watch for the hummers and the woodpecker who visit the hummingbird feeders daily on the front porch. Yorkie watches for the cats so she can bark to turn them into scaredy cats and watch them run!

    • TD, I’m so happy to find another “sun-catcher”!! Monk often sits with me, though he quickly tires of the heat from the sun. And catching him doing the “stare down” with that cat was just luck — generally, he, like Yorkie, would prefer to bark and chase!

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