James Hamby


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A Cat’s Lament

Entranced by promise of a tasty treat,
I feel myself attracted to its bowl;
As silently my furry, padded feet
Creep towards my prey, elation fills my soul.
For all cat-kind they are the best of yummies—
Naught compares to their ambrosial taste;
And nothing else feels better in our tummies,
But safe they stay beneath the watery waste.

O, why must we bemoist our little paws,
Endure the curséd water, and be brave?
Why must we wet our whiskers and our jaws
To reach the tasty fishes that we crave?
And is this then the tragedy of life:
That what we love is only gained through strife?

James Hamby is the Assistant Director of the Writing Center at Middle Tennessee State University. His poetry and criticism have appeared in The Road Not Taken, Measure, Pleiades, and other journals. He was a finalist for the X. J. Kennedy Parody Award, which only means that he was first loser.