A Dose of Prose

Variations on a Theme by Alastair Reid
by Loffy

Curiosity may have killed the cat
more likely, the cat was just unlucky
or else suffering from clinical depression
that went undetected for years
The odd fellows in goggles and lab gowns
never quite found out whether the cat
had crossed the fine line between
genius and lunatic
or was really just curious to see
what death was like.
So the cat's file read "Heart attack"
but it is interesting to note
that the cat had led a healthy lifestyle
and was nowhere near obese.

Nevertheless, to be curious is dangerous enough
To be disillusioned with the comforts of familiarity,
to turn your back on your trusty scratching post
and dependable rubber mouse,
venture into the uncharted and the unknown,
peer into a hundred foot abyss and see
the next great adventure
only to find that you are back where you started.
With curiosity comes hope of finding Something
and the terrible danger of finding Nothing
Perhaps the cat was naive in being an optimist
Always expecting a big bowl of quality cat food
at the end of each dark tunnel
Only to be crushed every time.
Had it expected an army of salivating brutes,
it might not have stung as hard.

Face it. Curiosity will not cause us to die.
But disappointment will.
They say only the curious have, if they live,
a tale worth telling at all
But suppose there is no tale?
Suppose you have gone to hell and back
and the only difference is that
it was a couple of degrees hotter down there?

Dogs say cats love too much
and perhaps they are right.
Cats let their emotions lead them astray;
that is their blessing and their curse.
They are not afraid to be different,
to love until they can not love anymore,
to take a path trodden only by psychiatric patients,
regardless of what the conformist dogs may say.
That is why cats have nine lives
No, it was not awarded to them --
they demanded it, because eight was not enough
In the same way seven was not enough
and six was not enough.

But the awful truth is that
the world is unkind to cats
And that no matter how many lives they lead
the world will never appreciate what they have to offer it.
It is, after all, a dominantly-dog world
where prevails much wagging of incurious heads and tails.

Maybe the cat, lying in the morgue,
had in fact suffered from depression
after years of having the cruel world trample on its dreams
and give in return to its eager curiosity nothing
but stark disappointment
But to give up is an improbable choice
a cat is likely to consider
No, indeed, for a cat never accepts defeat
but spits -- or hacks a furball -- in the face
of those who dare to belittle its genius
if that is the last thing it does.
No, a cat will not take its life to escape,
but to embark on a journey more promising than
the one we have during this lifetime.

Perhaps in death it hopes to finally find
a big bowl of quality cat food.