SPENCER , golden cat from the hill, liked to
garden. He liked everything about
gardening. He liked swishing his tail over the dirt. Scattering seeds. Playing hide and go seek in the newly planted
sweet peas.
Spencer was
VERY helpful. He supervised. And liked to play
SURPRISE by jumping out from the leaves.
He especially loved to sit and
TWITCH his tail at the
Doves. They were
most interesting. He didn't know what they were. But they had wings.
Big flying snacks that he couldn't reach.
Spencer watched the other cats . Especially
Frank, the other cat from the hill.
Frank was
regal. Frank had big blue eyes.
Frank crooned. Spencer did not know how to croon.
FRANK liked to keep a careful eye on
Spencer. From up high. It was safe.
Up high.
Bees bumbled back and forth.
BUZZZZZZZZ....
They hung on the
Cranesbill like
teddy bears.
Cordelia perched on the compost. Away from Spencer's reach. She eyed
Spencer AND
Frank. And they eyed her. All their tails
TWITCHED at the same time.
While the
BEES hummed.
Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
SMOKEY wondered where all the snakes were keeping. He liked to catch snakes. They
wriggled.
At one point,
Cordelia became brave and came down off her compost to have a drink.
Spencer saw the wind wave. His big golden eyes blinked.
He saw
ladybugs stretched out on leaves.
The
bees flew off. It was a day to nod. To
dream .
Buzzzzzzzzz...
"Then just within the gate I saw a child, a stranger-child, yet to my heart most dear
He held his hands to me, and softly smiled with eyes that knew no shade of sin or fear.
"Come in," he said, "and play awhile with me; I am the little child you used to be."
(Henry van Dyke 1852-1933, "The Child in the Garden")
The the wind
whispered and it was late in the day.
Spencer yawned. A lazy day .
And he dreamed of
BEES.
Buzzzzzzz. And
cats. Twitch twitch. And
SNAKES.Wriggle Wriggle. and
DOVES.
With innocence of thought.
Blissfully uplifted into the
twilight of the day......
Photographs: Michelle McConachie Woods
