Family of Felines

Family of Felines*

From winter’s Himalayas

to the warm Western Ghats,

I’m the one known as Prakash

the princeling of cats.

I’ve known and loved a myriad,

but I’ll speak of just a few:

The ones most dear to me

I will share now with you.

The blue-eyed was dangerous,

Allied with the night;

The next was more genial

And gentle, and white.

Another was calico,

orange, black & dun

With a toy in each corner

and a mouse on the run.

Siamese accompanied me

When we stepped onto the mall

Along the reflecting pools

Of the Taj Mahal.

There are many dear others,

Too many to say, you see.

And though I am prince of them all

It is they who rule me.

— Bruce Toien

*Play on my family’s surnames: Winters, Katz, Toien (“toy in”), Stept (“stepped”), Themal (“the mall”), White