A friend of mine once moved out of the city to a house in the countryside. She often said, before she moved, how worried she was that her cat, who had always stayed in her flat, would now have to cope with the open countryside.
So I wrote a poem about it.
A Field Day
This is the story of a little cat
that had to leave her city flat
and learn to live in an open house
where she had more than just a computer mouse!
At first her mum kept her under tight control
but as the weeks passed she began to stroll
out into the garden and the fields beyond
where she came across her very first pond…
It was a hot summers day and the water was cool,
and as she dipped her nose into the dark, little pool
a fat green monster leapt away in a scare
making the cat jump backwards into the air.
Never before had she ever seen a frog
so it startled her to see a jumping log.
She ran off in a terrible fright
and suddenly day had turned into night.
She looked up but could see no stars
she listened hard but could hear no cars.
In the forest it was quiet and as black as could be
but her feline eyes soon began to see
between the shadows of the evergreen trees;
and now she could hear the whispering breeze,
a crack of a branch as a deer moved away
and the snore of a badger as he slept through the day.
Then an owl cried out a haunting scream
and the little cat was in a terrible dream.
She ran off down the badger‘s ancient track,
her nerves on edge, she was beginning to crack.
Her stomach dropped, she felt a shaking inside her
as she ran through the web of a massive spider.
“What had she done to deserve such a fate?“
she thought, as her heart raced at an astonishing rate.
She tripped in her panic, head over heels,
coming to her feet after many cart-wheels.
Suddenly some light squeezed through the trees
and she ran towards it with trembling knees.
It was cool in the wood but she had run up a sweat
and her grey striped fur was now soaking wet.
Just another hundred meters to run
and she would be once more out in the sun…
Now she knew that it had not turned night,
the darkness in the trees had been her only fright.
She stood in the field from whence she had come
and heard the calling of her anxious mum.
Once again everything was ok
so she began to frolick and dance in the hay,
and in the grass amongst yellow blooming flowers –
here she could play alone for hours.
She saw a bright red admiral low above the ground
and decided it was time to play around.
She followed the butterfly like a stalking lion
just waiting for the creature to fly on
to another flower and take a rest.
Then she would pounce just like the best
wild cats in the savannah plains
where Wildebeest roam and Leo reigns.
But her attention was taken by a rustling sound
and as soon as she looked around
the butterfly was off and quickly away.
Now the little cat was after another prey.
Belly to the ground and her legs at full stretch,
the poor little mouse would soon be a wretch.
Soundless she moved, flat on the ground
then sprung on the mouse in a leap and bound.
Mum was out and calling again
and the cat was pleased to hear the refrain.
Triumphant and proud she waltzed home with her mouse,
expecting to be welcomed into the house,
but her mum scorned, took the mouse, cleaned her paws
and carried her in, behind closed doors.
The cat stood at the glass door and looked out with a smile.
“I’ll be out there again in a little while!“
Copyright © 01.06.2003 – Kevin Mahoney