Penelope Todd

Angsty cat

Clouds stream overhead from north-east to south-west, dissolving and morphing as they go.

Lilies in the tub outside the window have begun to brown and curl and drop their skirts.

The peasgood nonsuch apples cling to their branches and fatten, and silver bean-slivers emerge from fiery flower sheaths.

Clouds, lilies, beans and apples do what they do, no questions asked.

Only humans wonder whether what they’re doing makes any sense. Sometimes, when I’m feeling more than usually sense-less, I come back to what God is reputed in the book of Exodus to have said when Moses asked for his identity: ‘I am that I am’. Another rendering of ‘ehweh’ is: ‘I shall become who I am becoming.’ And if it’s good enough for God…

Perhaps it doesn’t matter whether I choose this course of action or that. Is it possible that, in the way of apples, beans and clouds, the human organism goes inexorably on, growing and auto-correcting until it resembles a well formed … human being?

Settle down, puss.

Penelope

5 responses to “Angsty cat”

  1. Hello, Kat, nice to know you’ve visited and enjoyed — thanks for commenting. Yes, the lilies of the field (as well as the lilies in the pot) toil not . . . while the mice of the field eat your basil!

  2. This is gorgeous..I am really enjoying your drawings and words together..my favourite. Reminds me of ‘the lilies in the field; matthew 28.
    I particularly liked the ‘ratty’ too..it is nicely rendered.We have a pet rat and yet I did the same thing with my puss as flied mice are eating my basil..grr.I think our cat prefers to play with them thou.

  3. I would like to frame this Most sensible view of what we are about – or, for better measure, have it engraved on my forehead, in backward writing, so that I could see it every time I look in a mirror.

    The wisdom of cats and chooks and most other creatures …

    Isabel x

  4. Yes, chooks might well put psychotherapists out of business if they could only learn how to market themselves. Thanks for calling by, Claire.