
Do you enjoy the "dog days" of summer? Dogs have been on our minds for reasons other than the dog days of summer. We dog-sat for our daughter Nora while she visited our daughter Megan and her family in Detroit last week. Becka and I have been "cat people" for so long that we'd forgotten how much more work dogs are than cats. And puppies (like Nora's Kingston) require lots of attention and have boundless energy!
Since the new school year is on the verge of beginning, I decided to post something a tad more literary than usual. I'm far from being an expert on the Japanese poetry called haiku. I'm sure the haiku I'm posting today (not my own composition) is probably not the finest ever written, but at least the number of syllables per line follows the standard formula of 5-7-5.
Here's some dog haiku for your amusement:
Dog Haiku
I love my master;
Thus I perfume myself with
This long-rotten squirrel.
I lie belly-up
In the sunshine, happier than
You ever will be.
I sound the alarm!
Paperboy — come to kill all —
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!
I sound the alarm!
Mailman Fiend — come to kill all —
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!
I sound the alarm!
Garbage man — come to kill all —
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!
I sound the alarm!
Neighbor's cat — come to kill all —
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!
I hate my choke chain —
Look, world, they strangle me! Ack!
Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack!!
Dig under fence — why?
Because it's there. Because it's
There. Because it's there.
You may call them fleas,
But they are far more — I call
Them a vocation.
My human is home!
I am so ecstatic I
Have made a puddle
How do I love thee?
The ways are numberless as
My hairs on the rug.
Look in my eyes and
Deny it. No human could
Love you as much.
I am your best friend,
Now, always, and especially
When you are eating.
My wife commented recently that I hadn't posted any cat humor lately. So to balance out the dog haiku, here's some cat haiku.
Cat Haiku
Grace personified,
I leap into the window.
I meant to do that.
Small brave carnivores
Kill pine cones and mosquitoes
Fear vacuum cleaner.
You never feed me.
Perhaps I'll sleep on your face.
That will sure show you.
The rule for today:
Touch my tail, I shred your hand.
New rule tomorrow.
Blur of motion, then —
Silence, me, a paper bag.
What is so funny?
You're always typing.
Well, let's see you ignore my
Sitting on your hands.
My small cardboard box.
You cannot see me if I
Can just hide my head.
Terrible battle.
I fought for hours. Come and see!
What's a "term paper"?
I want to be close
To you. Can I fit my head
Inside your armpit?
Wanna go outside.
Oh no! Help! I got outside!
Let me back inside!
Oh no! The Big One
has been trapped by newspaper!
Cat to the rescue!
Humans are so strange.
Mine lies still in bed, then screams.
Claws are not that sharp.
Cats meow out of angst
"Thumbs! If only we had thumbs!
We could break so much!"
The Big Ones snore now.
Every room is dark and cold.
Time for "Cup Hockey."
Several people have asked about what the symbols =^..^= =^..^= at the beginning of my signature line in each blog post stand for. It's our two cats — Adelaide and Clementine — each pictured by whiskers, ear, two eyes, ear, and whiskers.
This evening I downloaded a piano CD from mincymedia.com called A Place of Quiet Rest. Dave Mincy is offering all 11 tracks of the CD for free at least till the end of this week. I'm listening to it on my iPod, even as I type, and its quiet beauty is ministering to my heart.
Do you enjoy the dog days of summer? Any thoughts on the superiority of dogs or cats?
quotation...
"We're all going to be sifted, and Satan would love to discourage us." - Dr. Chris Barney
=^..^= =^..^=
Rob
A dog will come when you call, but a cat will take a message and never get back to you.
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