4/30/1997 - 9/24/2005

[spatch]

the othercat said it is because of the cats gone before us
thoste cats are always around you know
they just don't bring much atention to themselves
they're allways sleeping in the sunlight
or inthe shadows if that's what they like
sometimes I can seethem out of the corner of my eye
if you listen carefully sometimes you can hear them
i guess last night they all decided it was time to play
because they sure dont want to sleep
they were ond ifferent time zones or something I guess

so the other cat said she would sing a song to them
and she sat next to me and closed her eyes and purred and sang a song
she sang a lullaby to me and the cats
she sang to each of them in turn
she sang to the tortoiseshell and the yellow tabby and the White one with different coloredeyes
and the gray and white who was friendly and the thin black cat who trusted no one
and the blue gray and the blind hunter who had his own song of fighting a porcupine
(we all had to sing the porcupine song when it came around becaus thatis what you do and besides the chorus is fun)


she sang goodnight to us all
goodnight you cats she sang
Now is the time for all good cats to go to sleep
there are things to do tomorrow
And you can do them then
but now its time to sleep
and you can dream



<spatch> martha, pirate kitty
<Martha> ground me fleet an' heave down the flagons, ye bloody tavern-wench
<Owen-San> the greatest pirate kitty ever to sail the seven sinks

Comments

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

Sleep well, little Martha. You're still terribly missed.

[cheezdanish.livejournal.com]

Oh Martha.

[sovay]

I am sorry she is gone; I am glad she was there.

[phonemonkey.livejournal.com]

I always send people to your last Martha post when they've lost a pet. It seems to speak to people more personally than that whole Rainbow Bridge thing.

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

Oh ghods I hate that rainbow bridge thing. So mawkish....

This one is so much better.

[spatch]

Thank you for letting me know. I am glad it gives solace to others. It was written from pure, undiluted grief, when the shock of death had yet to subside. Perhaps it hasn't yet fully. I still think about that little cat almost every day and cannot believe five years have already gone by without her. I wonder what this house would have been like with her in it. She didn't spend long enough here for me to find out.

I have a ritual every year where I go back to the entry and clean up the spam comments that built up when I wasn't looking. And then I read the legitimate comments from people who call it a touchstone and the like. And every year I am amazed and get that incredibly-sad-but-incredibly-happy feeling, where you get that look on your face that's a cross between a smile and a sobbing grimace.

I wrote about her that day in my own voice, but the grief only really came out when I switched to Abbie's. It is the only time I have ever had to speak for myself through him, something I vowed never to do when I started the project. But in this case it was necessary and, ultimately, the result has helped others besides me. Again, I grieve, but I am glad.

(edit: well, okay, Abbie was also speaking then too. I know he grieved as well. I saw and heard.)

[mcsnee.livejournal.com]

This made me cry.

[maga-dogg.livejournal.com]

It's been years -- decade and a half -- since I lost a beloved pet, but this really brings that back. Oof. Thank you.

[piemancer]

Can it really have been so long? O, Spatch!

[fancycwabs.livejournal.com]

Dammit, Spatch. No fair getting me choked up while I'm at the gym.

[dimloep-suum.livejournal.com]

I lost my Felix in August '05, and as much as I love my Winston, just thinking about it, and how everything happened so fast...it's still a little raw.

*hugs*

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

I started reading it aloud to Mary when you first posted it and then was crying so hard I had to stop. It really is a touchstone for anyone grieving a pet (as we also actively were at that point).

[kalibex.livejournal.com]

sigh

[lexinatrix.livejournal.com]

Me too.

[batyatoon]

And me.

[audioboy.livejournal.com]

I remember that day. B and I were rushing there to get Martha to the vet, but she went before we arrived. It was so hard. We had just lost Winston the year before. Then you posted Abbie's good-bye to her. I'd never read anything like it. It still brings tears when I think about it five years later.

I'll never understand people who don't like pets. Or think grieving over a pet is silly. Instead, I just feel sorry for the kind of love they'll never know.

Sleep well, Martha. We're glad you were in Spatch's life and we're glad we got to know you. *skritches*

[skeetlj.livejournal.com]

I still can't think about this for long. Way too close. But the cats-gone-before-us is...

I don't even have words for it. Amazing.

[semer.livejournal.com]

I can't ever read this without crying. I remember trying so hard to figure out if there was a group in your area who could help with the mounting bills, help save your wonderful little black cat... how can I love a cat this much having never met her? And of course I cry for my own lost cats at the same time.

[susskins.livejournal.com]

You know, I never even met Martha, yet I think of her every once in a while. Your words gave me a link to her.

Sail on, Dread Pirate.

Wonderful poem, thanks so much

[qviews.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you reposted, and it is hard to realize it's been five years. I remember so clearly...

[theswordmaiden.livejournal.com]

Oh man, after I first read about Martha I cried so hard I promised myself not to read it again ... she was a very wise pirate cat.