I am feeling tired today. My cat Dickens has been known to wake me up at night but he has gotten really bad lately. He sits on the floor next to the bed and meows at me. Why can’t he be like Waldo and just sleep draped across my feet all night? The books say to ignore it. So I do. I lay there in bed, wide awake, waiting for him to get tired and stop. He can go for a surprisingly long time. This has been going on for a week now and he is not getting the hint that such behavior does not get any attention. He’s persistent, I’ll give him that. I am regularly as bleary-eyed as my coworker with the four-month old baby.
So it seems like a good day for a poem. Well any day is a good day for a poem in my opinion. I get a poem everyday in my email box from the Academy of American Poets. If you have not signed up for this wonderfully free service, you totally should. It’s easy.
Yesterday I got a poem by Hazel Hall who turns out to be from St. Paul, Minnesota. Her poem is in the public domain so I can post the whole thing without worrying about a visit from the copyright police. The poem is called “Hours” and since I’ve been having some foggy hours and hours that sure felt like eternal pain, I thought it only fitting. So here you go, enjoy.
Hours
I have known hours built like cities,
House on grey house, with streets between
That lead to straggling roads and trail off,
Forgotten in a field of green;
Hours made like mountains lifting
White crests out of the fog and rain,
And woven of forbidden music—
Hours eternal in their pain.
Life is a tapestry of hours
Forever mellowing in tone,
Where all things blend, even the longing
For hours I have never known.
Sorry that Dickens is being such a pain. Has he done this before? That is a nice poem and I will look up that website.
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Ian, thanks. He hasn’t done the meowing before. In the past he has found walking across my stomach in the middle of the night sufficient but now he’s trying to expand his repertoire! The poetry site is marvelous and if you have an iphone or ipad they have an excellent poetry app too.
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My cat used to perch on my backside loudly purring while I was sleeping – great fun until I had to turn around!
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heh, your cat likes to live dangerously! In winter Dickens likes to lay on my chest and purr in my ear. I am looking forward to it getting cold at night so he does that instead of meow at me from the floor (though he is starting to get the hint that the meowing is not working).
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This is a lovely poem – thanks so much for sharing it! Sorry about your cat, however – as the mom of a new baby I can honestly say ONLY moms of new babies should know this kind of sleep deprivation on a regular basis!
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sandwichdays, glad you enjoyed it! I think you and my coworker have it worse off for sure. At least my cat only meows once or twice a night not every couple of hours.
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Really lovely!! Hope you are getting some sleep now…
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cirtnecce, glad you enjoyed it. It’s getting better but we are still engaged in a battle of the wills!
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Out cat Turtle has started doing this, too, usually starting around 5:00 / 5:30 AM. She also starts meowing for her dinner around 3:00/3:30 PM (like right about now!). She’s thirteen and is now our only cat. I worry about her, but if someone (Jack) gets up and feeds her, she stops meowing. I’ve taken to closing the door of the library, which is between the hall and the bedroom, to keep her out of the bedroom. Jack thinks that’s mean. I think it keeps me from murdering her! I could never have been a mother!
Thanks for the poem. I like it.
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Joan, I get up at 5 so if Dickens would wait until 5 that would be ok! But of course it is usually around 3 or 4! Dickens is only 7 so he doesn’t get the excuse of old age yet. Ignoring him has begun to work. He isn’t doing it as often and hopefully soon he will stop it entirely. Glad you liked the poem!
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thats all you need isn’t it, a cat who demands attention, There is probably a specialist in cat psychology that can give you chapter and verse on this odd behaviour.
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BookerTalk, well the cat behavior book from the alleged “cat whisperer” says to ignore it so we have been. Very slowly he is starting to not do it as much so it is getting better.
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I visited my friend on the weekend who has two new kittens. They are absolutely adorable, but of course want to play in the middle of the night. She is trying to ignore them too, but without much success. I shut my cat in the back quarters of the house at night – he has lots of lovely soft places he likes to sleep, so I figure that’s a reasonable compromise for both of us! The poem is lovely, thank you for sharing.
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Litlove, glad you enjoyed the poem! Somehow it is easier to forgive a kitten for waking you up at night! If we locked Dickens out we’d have to lock Waldo out too which would not go over very well. Then we’d have both cats yowling! It is slowly getting better though.
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I’ve had a lot of hours that lead to straggling roads and trail off lately.
Our 15-year-old cat wakes us up earlier and earlier for food He is very old and can’t eat very much at one time anymore, though.
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Jeanne, Dickens is only 7 so can’t use age as an excuse. I would have a much easier time being sympathetic in a situation like you have with your cat. It is slowly starting to get better though, thank goodness!
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Oh poor you. Hope he has stopped now. Lovely poem though – a beautiful way of looking at our lives through the hours we have and don’t have.
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whisperinggums, Dickens has not yet stopped but it is better than it was. I am going to win but it won;t be easy getting there! Glad you enjoyed the poem!
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Perhaps I could send you my book on toddler taming … It has all sorts of advice for anti-social behaviour. My toddlers have long grown out of it!
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