Blue Silence

It settles deep, this Winter silence.

Blue shadows drape across the glittering white blanket. The bitter silver moon casts its harsh light over the frozen land. The night sky, black as pitch.

The earth lays in beneath in deathly hush. Not one whisper from its soul.
My paws are sore from the bite of frost; my nose longs for scents of Sprintime lush.
My very presence seems somehow lost.
Within this tomb of deafening white.

I cannot hear the earth beneath. But she is there, still. Waiting.
I wait too, for the warmth of new grass and the sweetness of soft flowers.
I am aching from the freezing nights.

Until my Lady Earth awakes again, I will wait and dream of her warm breath stirring my fur and soothing my paws. Until then....

I wait, in Blue Silence.



Mister Caludius

EyeBall Deep

White, white, white.

Everywhere, and everyplace.
It it crisp and crunches. Ice has slicked the stones and cracked the trees.
COLD WIND bends my whiskers back as I scowl at the unpromising landscape.
A deep chilling blanket hides all.

The wind is bitter and bites. I bite back impatiently.
Yesterday, the ground was brown and soft, yeilding under my paws.
Springtime stirred in tiny whispers just beneath the surface.

All I did was go to sleep.
And now I sit here,
EyeBall Deep.


Mister Claudius

New Year's Resolutions

Resolutions for 2010.....

I resolve to:

Occupy the dining room table on every occassion possible

To seek out all heat runs in cold weather

To bat about all objects not nailed down, and to loosen many objects which are....

To invade all laps, available or not

To seek out all unclaimed food, at floor level or not. (must not waste!)

To beat all those meeses to pieces, even the ones in the walls!

To leave mysterious piles of cat-splat where humans in bare feet can find them

To shed only white fur on dark fabrics, and to shed only black fur on light surfaces

To resist with vigor all visits to to vet

To claim any and all sunny windowsills as my own

..... and to continue to win the treats, attentions, and undying affection of my human companions by continueing to be my sweet, cute, furry, lovable, and occasionally pointy self. I'm sure they wouldn't want me any other way.


Yours in this New Year,
Mister Claudius

Looking for birds

pen & ink image of Mr. Claudius

is c2009 GreyElf Graphics

Oh, Christmas Tree

Claudius' ode to the Christmas tree....
Sung to the tune of "Oh Tinnenbaum"



Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree,
They brought you inside, just for me
Oh prick-ly and piney tree,
Oh what a toy you'll be for me

I swat your balls of green and blue,
I snack on tinsel, popcorn too...

Oh Christmas tree, this toy for me
Why did they all just yell at me?

Your GingerBread and Candy-Canes
Have given me such gassy pains

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas Tree,
Your branches sway invitingly

I'll pounce and grab at everything,
Oh what a sparkly, big play-thing

Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree,
You're leaning over crazily....

I'll bite your branches and garlands,
I'm swinging from the lighted strands

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....
How could you just go fall on me??



Merry Christmas from
Mister Claudius

Hideaway Day

I am hideaway cat today.

The weather unfit for Beast. Man is silly. He trudges out to do things in the snow. Woman, too. They push the white drifts about in piles. Struggling through the cold wind. Frigid Futility.

This cat does not follow.

Cat Paws will not touch the ICE. COLD. Stinging sleet....

Cat will hideaway inside with Warmth. On this hideaway day.

Hideaway inside til outside is fit again for Beast.



Mister Claudius.

Heat Run

Too COLD for this cat. Indoors, it is chill along the edges and crisp upon the whiskers. Outdoors is less of a friend. The wind bites and howls.

Wait, I do, upon the chilly threshhold. Paws are tucked in close, as I listen for the voice of my newest best friend.

A Rush and a Rumble announce the arrival of her - and I fly fast as thought to crouch at her side - she is Warmth and she breathes in the corner of the living room. I flatten against the hot register and revel in Warmth's marvellous breath upon my fur.

In Winter, She is my dearest friend. The heat run.


Mister Claudius