Curiosity
Alistair Reed
may have killed the cat; more likely
the cat was just unlucky, or else curious
to see what death was like, having no cause
to go on licking paws, or fathering
litter on litter of kittens, predictably.
Nevertheless, to be curious
is dangerous enough. To distrust
what is always said, what seems,
to ask odd questions, interfere in dreams,
leave home, smell rats, have hunches
do not endear cats to those doggy circles
where well-smelt baskets, suitable wives, good lunches
are the order of things, and where prevails
much wagging of incurious heads and tails.
Face it. Curiosity
will not cause us to die –
only lack of it will.
Never to want to see
the other side of the hill
or that improbable country
where living is an idyll
(although a probable hell)
would kill us all.
Only the curious
have, if they live, a tale
worth telling at all.
Dogs say cats love too much, are irresponsible,
are changeable, marry too many wives,
desert their children, chill all dinner tables
with tales of their nine lives.
Well, they are lucky. Let them be
nine-lived and contradictory,
curious enough to change, prepared to pay
the cat price, which is to die
and die again and again,
each time with no less pain.
A cat minority of one
is all that can be counted on
to tell the truth. And what cats have to tell
on each return from hell
is this: that dying is what the living do,
that dying is what the loving do,
and that dead dogs are those who do not know
that dying is what, to live, each has to do.
Friendship is like a snowball, it can’t be kept forever. -an Afghan Proverb
When the winter comes,
When cold, pristine whiteness
Replace the troubled dusts,
I shall remember the other you
As someone who once
Filled-up a part of my life
With warm conversations
And whispered laughter…
“Never mind the diplomacy
and just tell me,”
you may reply.
So though I do mean that,
I have to concede:
A snowball feels good only in the beginning,
I don’t have the endurance
To hold it for a longer time
In the tropics of my heart.
been staying in the house since the eid day last tuesday. i am on my own, all the five housemates are out of afghanistan for workleave and for the short holidays. i opted to stay put. i will be going out soon for my nearing r & r, and besides, it would be nice to go back to work on saturday with this pending report already finished. so the plan is mainly to work, in solitude.
the security guys remain outside, and our chowkidar (guard) only comes over during the night. i am in the company of two cats. snowball, a white hairball ofa cat, is a pet of a housemate who is currently trekking in kenya. snowball’s got this enchanted eyes, aristocratic catty demeanor (a houseguest once commented that snowball has “delusions of grandeur”), and is well-loved by his owner. at first we ignored each other but the past two days, i noticed that he has been following me around. when i go upstairs, he will be a few meters away after a while. i cook, and he will get inside the kitchen surreptitiously. i watch tv and he will snuggle under the center table. this morning, i woke up with him sleeping outside my room. but he started avoiding me when i turned on the shower and didn’t notice that he was peacefully lying on the white tub. he literally flew out of the bathroom. sorry snowball! the other cat’s a stray one, part of these regular stray cats in the garden. but this yellow one stands out from the herd. if he wants to get inside the house, he will climb on the screen door and starts banging himself on the main glass door hoping for the lock to get loose. fascinating… the beat generation is alive in this cat…
anyway, i keep on distracting myself, and distractions come in many (other) forms…
- facebook. oh, got new messages… got replies? i should change my status. will upload some photos. what else, what else…
- i should update my profile on friendster and goodreads…
- just call me when you’re near…
- i’ll just finish this english subtitled iranian movie, then i should really go upstairs and work…
- come to think of it, i should have read this book long time ago!
- man, I can’t play these sex and the city dvds on the lappy! should remind the IT guy…
- sorry, can’t come to the party. enjoy anyway. (this too much smoking can revive my arthritis!)
- sara palin and the handmaid’s tale.. haha, sara palin’s interview as a poetry! nuts, why is it taking too much time to download this sara palin CBS interview?
- bhutto’s widow zardari flirted with palin and was issued a fatwa today for his “indecent remarks gestures, filthy remarks, and repeated praise of a non-Muslim lady wearing a short skirt”… but read a time article days ago on the pakistani feminists criticizing this as sexism, quoting tahira abdullah no less. 🙂
- hmm, interesting annotations on obama’s acceptance speech.
- i should subscribe to the utne reader…
- back to tv …. interview with an afghan intelligence head (?): “that’s what they told you, claire (re intercepted pakistani bombers in afghanistan who allegedly told the aljazeera reporter that they are not connected with the pakistani government ). and that’s the difference between aljazeera and the intelligence agency.” hmm…
- pep
- gotta read the new emails…
- google…google… nikolas… is this my nephew’s profile?
- i wonder why my phone is quiet today
- should organize my cabinet, my inbox, my files… maybe then, my thoughts…
- will blog first, then i can start working really.
i’m hungry again…
Here and Away 