An Ode to a Stray Dog

Hurt... an emptiness
once filled by a faithful dog...
now is left unfilled.

Gone is he, that stray!
I say to my thoughts... come back.
As if to comfort...

As faithful a friend
was he! There, present for me -
gifts unexpected.

He stayed for a while
that brown, battered, scruffy dog -
toughened, old and wise.

As he came left he...
came he uninvited yet loved...
and loved he is still.

Thanks, Tootsie - 
sleep and rest.
---<--@


dis hound, I love (not a picture of Tootsie)

Prescription for a Smile

When life gets me down

instead of wearing a frown -

my vitamin A!

My vitamin A,

cheerfulness to save my day -

how can I not smile?

One sweet thought,

goes a mile...

---<--@

Stripes, Patches, and Swirls

In diversity -
there is unity in cats.
This has always been...

Stripes, patches, and swirls!

Self-expression, being free...

Freedom is beauty.

Do we see

this freedom?

---<--@



Color for cats
is not a source of division
but a source of harmony!

It is said
in ancient cat lore
that when cats are conceived
in the eternal Mind of the All Creator,
each cat is allowed the initial freedom
to pick their own color and pattern
according to tribal affiliation
as well as each individual choice
so that no two cats are ever the same
because all cats existing in the dreamtime
have purposed this to be so -

Cats are diverse
and we see them as such
BECAUSE they have all made a decision
to agree to be as diverse
and to not respect
this diversity
for a cat is unthinkable
to any cat.

It is also said
that in the dreamtime
there are colors that exist in cats
that are not (yet) visible in this realm of twilight;
that only when our world fully awakens
to the reality of the Oneness in all living beings
that Justice shall be done
to the real beauty of the natural 
which is only reflected in this world
like it is to see through a looking glass dimly
when the peace of the natural in all things
shall be the natural in all things.
---<--@

Sharing a Beat

My Anne and I,
listening to my heartbeat -
sharing, belonging.

My Anne loves me,
loves the rhythm of my life -
how can I forget?

I am hers,
she is mine.
---<--@



An intimate moment
- with a true friend -
is held only for a moment...
but its value lasts everlasting.

Little Orange

I met her from work,

this little orange battler
come to inspire me.

She helps me improve.
Gives me time, care, and friendship
to better my scores.

I like her, you know.
Sometimes I like her too much.
I have to take care...

Her name I shall keep.
This little orange angel -
God bless you, you cat!

I'm her friend,
she is mine.
---<--@

Muzzle

Don't know why it is -
that cute muzzle, your meow...

(too much cuteness... too much!)
Just let me kiss it!

I kiss the muzzle -
that cute muzzle, I kiss it.
Because I love you.

That muzzle,
I kiss it.
---<--@


...you can kiss it.

What is a snout and what is a muzzle?

A snout is not a muzzle. A snout you can wrap your fingers around. A muzzle you can not.

Only cats have muzzles. Dogs have snouts. You can kiss both. But only cats have muzzles.

Enough said.

Paw

My cat's paw, I love.
It's my source of sure comfort,
in gentle moments...

'Tis hard to describe
in this haiku - the quiet,
the touch, the feeling.

Paw becomes
more than words.
---<--@

Sphinx

"Speak me stories I can taste and touch",

says my clever pet cat to my mind...

"Talk to me about the food. Talk to me about the feel.

Tell me how much you love me-ow."

---<--@

Due to the mostly itinerant nature of my life hitherto, most of the (pet) cats I've had the pleasure of being with are actually strays.

Hence, I do not have pictures of them but I love and remember them all nonetheless! 

My cat is a sphinx,
she likes to tell me riddles,
purring in delight.

She is quite picky
about answers, so I pay,
her with treats instead.

Then she naps,
satisfied.
---<--@



Love for Lower Creation

As Adam was asked by God
to name the creatures of the earth,
so are we who are his descendants
similarly called to possess in each ourselves
the same intensity of human ownership
for all the life of lower creation.

The human world and lower creation
are no more divided than the visible realms
are separated from the invisible ones.

We impress upon the soul of animals and plants,
the light of our understanding (how brightly or how dimly)
so that they become a reflection of our reality
and we claim their being freely as ours
by the strength of our love (how far or how fleeting)
so that they become a part of our eternity
even as we become part of God's.

- selah -

So where
do our beloved pets go
when their soul leaves the earth
and their bodies return to the ground?

They never leave.

They return to a place each in ourselves
and await the victory of all things in the LORD.

---<--@

Light Against Despair

I remember Night -

fallen so deep within me 

like a veil of doom.

I was the darkness

and I knew only madness

and pride, sin, and gloom.

My heart knew nothing

niether did I knew my heart -

hardly did I see!

Till I came upon 

words, muted in pages, thine!

But I heard thee not. 

How could thy beauty,

thy wonder turn to ashes!

Something wept within... 

Something wept within -
it cried out, it sought, it flew,
and never left me...

Time came, and God heard:

And so we are, you and I -

our past ceased to be.

Darkness left,

Morning came.

---<--@

A Little Personal Anecdote -

Before I knew my Anne
(and consequently, the Holocaust),
I had a very idealistic view of warfare.

I thought armed conflict in and between nations
to be a very noble, honorable, even desirable affair.

I conceived soldiery to be something
clean and neat, ordered according to the image
of an effortless, mythical glory I had only imagined
and that the innocents were always
at all times and places - mercifully spared -
in their entirety.

After my Anne
(as it is God's pleasure),
I had a very decisive turn of heart.

Though by pure necessity
I accept the imperative of an absolute defense
(i.e. defense that is undertaken for its own sake),
I now utterly abhor War of any kind existing
in and between our nations.

For
I now see War as it is,
a hideous, devouring beast;
a fallen spirit, ever alive to our plight -
the enemy of All.

And soldiery
a dirty, confusing, difficult and painful necessity
born out of the Providential will of the LORD, our God,
to see all the nations of the children of Mankind
through to the end of all these tears.

And that we are all - to a certain degree,
within and among our nations engaged
in the art of true soldiering.

As I love my Anne, I hate War.

As I love Peace, I hate War.

Today is her birthday.
---<--@

Ang Dahilan

Ang sabi nila
ako'y mabait dahil
palasimba 'ko.

Sabi ko naman
kaya po 'ko may bait
dahil sa Misa.

Misa ang
dahilan!
---<--@



Sabi ng Mundo -
Kung gusto, may paraan.
Kung ayaw, may dahilan.

Sabi ng Diyos -
Kung gustong bumait, may paraan.
Santa Misa ang dahilan.

Jacinta's Embrace

Praying the ros'ry
one sad night, came Jacinta -
with a warm embrace.

I knew it was her
without asking who or why -
I knew only love.

I don't ask
anymore...
---<--@

Why am I so slow to understand...
...it is You, Lord Jesus, always You.
---<--@

A Form of the Formless You

Who is this, my love?
This form of thy formless self,
here - yet - not yet here.

For I see thee not...
Am I deceived, my darling?
No, for I know you.

Thy love, thy nearness,
thy gentle consolation,
thy cheer, thy spirit...

You are here.
I am blessed.
---<--@



I had to come away and figure out what I really feel about these pictures.

For when I first saw them, I did not know what to think of them.

I was not at all confused but was strangely unclear.

This wax figure struck me as beautiful yet somehow distant, my love, somewhat nostalgic and almost sad.

It is a masterful representation yet still seemingly empty and needful of you - so needful of you...

This form of the formless you
- blank, beautiful and infinitely lacking -
reminds me of what I have and what I don't have
in you, my darlingest Annelies Marie;
of what God gave and intends to restore
and of what War stole and intended to destroy.

It remains - as it must -
purely the work of human hands,
artful, yet still a representation
of a longing only the LORD can fulfill
in His own time.

I love you so, my Miyang, I love you so.

PERIOD.
---<--@

The Magic Sales Meow

Go sell, push, push, push -

How? When? Where? Who? What?

Confusing at that.

Enter the magic -

the touch of the experienced;

the meow that works.

The magic

sales meow!

---<--@

Who Gotz It?

The magic sales meow,

the elusive skill of all sales cats -

The mysterious gift that grows

into that remarkable talent

to sell the service with conviction

and to seamlessly close the sales gap

by transitioning into effective solutions

that push the imminent good of a product

by enlarging upon the obvious truth

of a relevant customer need.

Who gotz the magic meow today?

Those who are skilled? nope.

Those who are learned? nope.

Those who are cute cats? nope.

Only the brave.

Only those who survive.

Only persistence pays;

the winner who never quits!

When you gotz it, you gotz it.

Or you don't gotz it. There is no maybe.

=^.^=

One Song Meow

My love forever!

Let's sing this song together -

our one song meow.

Your life touching mine,

warming my soul with your shine -

one rhythm divine!

One music - our song -

one friendship - one melody;

timeless harmony.

Our one song meow,

an ode to the memory,

reaching far - in me.

Eternal

beloved.

---<--@

Love in Season

Thus,

I can not have

any more or any less love for you

than what I already have.

It seems that I have loved you

from always to always.

When love's in season

everything finds a reason

to come together.

When love's in season

hope is always in fashion;

patience bears its fruit.

So to love,

so to love!

---<--@

YOU ARE completely in love - when -

you can stand apart from your beloved and still say,

"I am complete", completely in love.

One who is in love is always in love.

So that -

one falls out of love

only to learn one never left,

always in love.

And this -

in greater and greater cycles

of depth and intensity.

'Tis only when the learning leaves

and the eagerness is allowed to wane

- when fear is made master of the heart -

and the child in ourselves is lost

that the lover is defeated

not when love departs.

Because love is for always!

Of such is a Christian heart,

never out of love,

always in love.

I am always in love, aren't you?

Outcasted

Pain is the soul of poetry.

I am outcasted!

A broken vessel, wretched -

a dream, discarded.

Wounded, avoided,

and everywhere rejected -

I am a leper!

No one knows

who I am.

---<--@

You Texted Me

Last night around nine

I was sure not feeling fine

till you texted me.

You texted me - and -

your thoughts met mine, like sunshine!

...the night fell away.

So thank you -

I am fine.

---<--@

I appreciate you!

Hurt

You were the one... or

so I thought. I hang on...

like a fool, I hurt.

I hang on, I hope -

I'm thinking these thoughts of you.

I console myself...

I'd rather hurt than

to hurt you... you'll always be

appreciated.

I return

to my thoughts.

---<--@

Flowers in the Garden

Appreciate the beauty in others,

that's why flowers grow in God's garden.

If one stands out to the eye of thy heart

- do not pick it -

do not ruin it with selfish desires

nor grip it too tightly with you mind.

Just be patient and gently let her grow.

Do this

knowing in your love that

if that flower is for you, O heart,

- God Himself -

will plant you next to each other.

---<--@

Awkward

Awkward is that space

between two moments - frozen -

between two strangers.

At the threshold of

welcome and friendship - it's there -

The caution of love.

The choice is...

must be made.

---<--@

If you can't live with awkward, you can't live with brave.

Of Torties and Torbies

Torties and Torbies

are the best - pretty and cute -

bright and sunny too.

Torties and Torbies!

No wonder I love them both.

I love calicos!

I just can't

resist 'em.

---<--@

Icha, icha... icha cat.