Is his name
And his being.
He is King.
More,
He is Emperor of all he surveys.
When time was young
And he
An unknown prince,
Our family thought we’d choose a kitten.
We thought choosing would be difficult.
So many animated pom-poms,
Mewing and playing together.
We wanted to pick them all
And hug them forever.
But Maximus Catus was among them.
He had seen many young families come and go.
He had scrutinized,
Evaluated and considered each.
He was not one to be chosen.
Max would do his own choosing.
And there we stood,
Undecided, overwhelmed.
Max sat and evaluated.
Decision made,
He bounced into action.
A black and white ball of fur
Bounced out of the group
And up the fence.
He stopped at Andy’s face,
White little paws extended through.
“You are my choice,
I have chosen you!”
His green eyes were saying.
Within a week
He brought a gift,
To say “thank you”,
“You have done well”.
It was a bird, twice his size.
The gift and Maximus Catus
Fought all the way up the passage.
We received our gift with pride,
Then released it back to the sky.
After that
Other birds were free to adorn the garden
Of our emperor cat.
And butterflies,
Though often stalked,
Were free to embrace his flowers.
Max chose his friends
And they still come to visit;
But woe betide usurper cats
Who think they
Can challenge an emperor.
Now Max is old
And his joints need oiling.
But a leader born,
Is a leader forever.
At night, when he is tired,
He herds us to bed
So he can lie on our chest
And purr
And stretch out a warning paw,
Insisting on a cuddle.
Maximus Catus,
Serenely powerful.
He is no-one’s pet.
He is Emperor Of All.
Maximus Catus,
He has pet humans.
By: Sharon Heaney Stansfield