!!

Please tell me you won’t name your next cat Death if you’re writing a sequel to Angel next, though.

Steve and June–I’m so glad you have Merlins in your lives, too.

Sharon–thank you for sharing about Bear and Sully and the richness they bring to your life.

June–thank you for your poem about the Beautiful Enchantress Acrasia.

Thank you, all, for taking the time to read this post about Merlin. I still can’t believe he’s gone.

ACRASIA. (Which means Beautiful Enchantress).
Acrasia was a long-haired tortoiseshell and white,
When I first laid eyes on her she was such a sorry sight.
Abandoned on a sink estate, thrown out into the world
She lay thin and weak and lonely and very tightly curled.
I took her home and nursed her, fed and kept her warm,
I cuddled and I played with her, kept her free from harm.
She wouldn’t let me near her in the garden or the street
But in the house she was in my arms, on my knees, under my feet.
My daughters fell in love with her as she tried to steal their food
She was a happy, loving, playful cat and rarely in a mood.
She was gently, oh so pretty, soft and warm with a long pink tongue
But when other cats strayed on her patch she showed them she was strong.
She’d arch her back and spit and snarl with tail up in the air,
The clsws were out, the teeth were flashed, she really had no fear.
As time went by she learnt to say, “I want to come on your knee”
“I need to be fed”, “I want to go out” and she learnt to cuddle me.
We lived together and day by day grew older and stiffer together,
Neither of us thought much to the cold but loved the sunny weather.
When I slaved in the garden, Acrasia played slave-owner in the sun,
We did almost everything together, we had so much fun.

Then suddenly nineteen years had gone and Acrasia passed away,
The hurt, the pain, the sorrow, will stay forever and a day.
I’m crying now as I write this, for the love she returned ’til the end,
My Beautiful Enchantress, my affectionate furry friend.