mushin no shin

 The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
   It isn't just one of your holiday games;
 You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
 When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
 First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
   Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
 Such as Victor or Jonathan, or George or Bill Bailey -
   All of them sensible everyday names.
 There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
   Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
 Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter -
   But all of them sensible everyday names.

 But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
   A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
 Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
   Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
 Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
   Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
 Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum -
   Names that never belong to more than one cat.
 But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
   And that is the name that you never will guess;
 The name that no human research can discover -
   But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
 When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
   The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
 His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
   Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
     His ineffable effable
     Effanineffable
 Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

– T.S. Eliot

So, yeah, this little fellow has been squatting at my place & eating my food for a few weeks now, I guess he’s decided to keep me. He’s apparently a neighborhood stray, though if anyone in Woodbine recognizes him, just let me know… otherwise he’s welcome to hang here with me. I don’t know his name yet — I’ve been asking him, but all he ever says is “meow”. I mean I don’t know, I don’t think that’s really his name, I think he’s just fucking with me.

Perhaps I’ll call him Eliot.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 8th, 2007 at 6:54 am and is filed under Babble. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.