I know its kind of morbid but I read this poem once as a kid and never forgot it...
For a Dead Kitten
Put the rubber mouse away,
Pick the spools up from the floor,
What was velvet shod, and gay,
Will not want them, any more.
What was warm, is strangely cold.
Whence dissolved the little breath?
How could this small body hold
So immense a thing as Death?
Sara Henderson Hay
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16 comments:
I read this book sometime in high school. It was in a collections of poems from a book entitled 'reflections of a gift of a watermelon pickle. I cried out loud in class, after school, and as I lost my beloved kitty Roxxx$starr, It started all over again. Thanks for making it readily available to me. God bless you and yours
It had such a profound effect on my when I read it in middle/high school that I never forgot it. Im glad I was able to help you find it again.
Blessings
thank you. I also read this poem in my early high school years and could remember only the last line--but the impact of the piece stayed with me all these years.
Tonight my sweet cat of 19 years is in her final hours. I am grateful to have found this poem once again.
I am a 49 year old father, i was so impressed with this poem that i memorized it in 1967,my gradeschool days. I even remembered Sara Hay and it still brings tears to my eyes.
Thank you for the memories and being able to proofread again!
Godspeed.
Like the others, I read this in school 25(ish) years ago. It did make a profound impression on me and I memorized it easily. I did not remember the author, which is why today out of curiosity, I searched the poem and found my way here. Funny how one small poem so many years ago can strike us this way to leave such a lasting impression. And the last line is quite powerful.
Like the others, I read this in school 25(ish) years ago. It did make a profound impression on me and I memorized it easily. I did not remember the author, which is why today out of curiosity, I searched the poem and found my way here. Funny how one small poem so many years ago can strike us this way to leave such a lasting impression.
This poem comes to mind for me whenever anyone--pet or person-- dies. How can any loved one hold so immense a thing as death? I lost a dear friend this week, and I recited the last two lines almost immediately upon seeing him in the funeral home. It is the wonder of poetry that it can have so profound an effect.
Kathy
I read this poem many years ago when I was a little girl. I am reminded of it now because I have suffered the recent loss of my feline child. She was nineteen years old but she was always like a little kitten to me. I am still in shock. I'm tearing up at the sight of this poem but it is appropriate with the way that I am feeling. Thank you.
Jasmine's Mom
Thank you for posting...I read this long ago as a child, and was looking for it, we lost Snuggle Cat today....yeah, thanks so much..
Thank you for posting...I read this long ago as a child, and was looking for it, we lost Snuggle Cat today....yeah, thanks so much..
Yes, thank you. While I had memorized it in high school, I didn't know the author. Also lost my beloved Gina today.
Thank you so much. I am amazed that we all memorized this poem in school. Yesterday, my beloved George, silver shod and gay, left this world. I'm thankful I was able to refresh the words of this poem in my mind and learn the author.
I just lost my beloved NuNu, my chocolate shod Siamese and immediately thought of this poem from my '70's high school English Lit class. RIP my girl. I loved you a Bushel and a Peck...
I read this in HS in 1977 and it has stuck with me so easily. Even if I don't think of it for a decade, it rolls right out of my memory. Every word perfectly. And not because it is sing-songy, but the words are simply profound. I am always reminded of it when I lose a pet, but even when I lose human loved ones. I know this sounds bizarre, but of all the useless stuff in school that we had to learn, this little poem prepared me for losses of a lifetime.
I read this in Jr High. I've searched for it a couple of times. My foster kitten died this morning and I was glad I could still find it and see the comments from people who have never forgotten their first reading of it.
Have remembered this poem for almost fifty years and have recited it on several bittersweet occasions. Lost my Siamese boy last January, after 12 years of unconditional love, and now his "baby brother" my Manx Jonas will be joining him soon at the Rainbow Bridge. Two bright little lights, two immeasurable sources of love and laughter, leaving me life. Grief is the price we pay for love. There's nothing more to say.
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