Dog and Cat
By ibuemma
@ibuemma (2953)
United States
July 12, 2007 11:16pm CST
I found this. I'm not it is a poem or quotation. Some of might know it already, i just want share with you all. check it out , you might like it too
DOG AND CAT
I just realized that while children are dogs
-- loyal and affectionate --
teenagers are cats.
It's so easy to be a dog owner.
You feed it, train it, boss it around.
It puts its head on your knee
and gazes at you as if you were a Rembrandt painting.
It bounds indoors with enthusiasm when you call it.
Then around age 13, your adoring little puppy turns into a big old cat.
When you tell it to come inside, it looks amazed,
as if wondering who died and made you emperor.
Instead of dogging your doorsteps, it disappears.
You won't see it again until it gets hungry --
then it pauses on its sprint through the kitchen
long enough to turn its nose up at whatever you're serving.
When you reach out to ruffle its head,
in that old affectionate gesture,
it twists away from you,
then gives you a blank stare,
as if trying to remember
where it has seen you before.
You, not realizing that the dog is now a cat,
think something must be desperately wrong with it.
It seems so antisocial, so distant, sort of depressed.
It won't go on family outings.
Since you're the one who raised it,
taught it to fetch and stay and sit on command,
you assume that you did something wrong.
Flooded with guilt and fear,
you redouble your efforts to make your pet behave.
Only now you're dealing with a cat,
so everything that worked before
now produces the opposite of the desired result.
Call it, and it runs away.
Tell it to sit, and it jumps on the counter.
The more you go toward it,
wringing your hands,
the more it moves away.
Instead of continuing to act like a dog owner,
you can learn to behave like a cat owner.
Put a dish of food near the door,
and let it come to you.
But remember that a cat needs your help and your affection too.
Sit still, and it will come,
seeking that warm, comforting lap it has not entirely forgotten.
Be there to open the door for it.
One day your grown-up child will walk into the kitchen,
give you a big kiss and say,
"You've been on your feet all day.
Let me get those dishes for you."
Then you'll realize your cat is a dog again.
~~ Author Unknown ~~
2 responses
@sunbakedmantis (128)
• Philippines
13 Jul 07
What a nice poem!
At first I thought that your poem is about cat and dogs and how they differed to each other. In the middle of the poem and afetr reading it, I realized that what the poem is talking about is not cat (the animal) nor the dog (the animal). It subject is a child. How the child grows up...
I liked the poem very much, it efficiently used the perceived characteristics of dogs and cats and used it to desctibe a growing child.
Tahnk you for sharing this poem, I like it very much. Oh, I love dogs and hate cats. I told you, in case you are wondering.