A Tale of Romance – Guest Post by Zoe The Fabulous Feline…

Posted on by Chris The Story Reading Ape

A Tale of Romance

Greetings, my friends. It’s Zoe the Fabulous Feline here. It’s February, the day before Valentine’s Day, and I have for you a romantic tale to warm your cockles. I’m not sure what “cockles” are—I’m a cat, after all—but I’ve heard the word and it tickles my fancy.

Just as an aside, my human, Emily, was looking over my shoulder and read the above. She is good at giving unsolicited advice, and so she promptly advised me that I should not use words I do not understand. She went on to say that the correct expression is “warms the cockles of my/your heart.” She then further explained (much to my chagrin) that cockles are the ventricles of the heart.

“Well, not actually the ventricles,” says she. “It is more precise to say that the word cockles is a bastardized version of the Latin name for the heart’s ventricles, formally known as the—”

“Enough!” I sat back on my haunches, my paws over my ears. I could not listen another moment. This background information is interesting, I suppose, but she is getting me way off track here. The look on her face told me I’d hurt her feelings, and I felt badly about that, but I had to stop her. I just wanted to tell a short story of love-sweet-love, and here she is, going on and on, giving me the origin of a word I used to like.

Now, let’s move on to my tale of romance. As do all great poets who write of love, requited and otherwise, I tell this tale in rhyme.

The Loner and the Lady

He was just a loner from the day that he could walk,

Doin’ things his own sweet way, never mindin’ all the talk.

He called it independent, while others called it free,

Fact is, the man was lonely, just as lonely as can be.

He hid it in his laughter, but the truth was in his songs.

And the loner, oh so lonely, longed for someone to call his own.

Then one day he met a lady, whose smile lit up the day,

But he was independent, couldn’t let love get in the way.

He scorned her way of living, yet was drawn to her easy smile,

He watched her very closely, keeping his distance all the while.

But she heard lying in his laughter and sighing in his songs,

And the lady, oh so lovely, moved into his private zone.

“Hello, how are you, Stranger?” she said with that easy smile.

Her green eyes danced in the darkness, closing the distance all the while.

“Some say you’re independent, others say you’re free;

I say that you’re just lonely—lonely just like me.”

So, the loner and the lady joined forces for a while.

He taught her how to stand alone, she taught him that easy smile.

Now truth is in his laughter and love is in his songs,

For the loner and the lady, they ain’t lonely anymore.

I hope you enjoyed my love story. It is my Valentine’s Day gift to all of you, my friends and faithful fans. And now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go see to Emily. She’s still looking a little forlorn, so I’ve got to think of a Valentine’s Day gift for her.

I’ve got it! I’ll give her that dead mouse I’ve been hoarding. I know she’ll love that, because the last time I left a mouse on her bed, she screamed with joy.

Zoe & Emily both live HERE

Zoe’s Facebook Page is HERE

Emily’s Facebook Page is HERE

Emily’s Sunrise Editing Services

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NOTE:

You can catch up with any Zoe the Cat Posts you may have missed, by any of the following three means:

Clicking on the Zoe the Cat tag at the bottom of her posts

Typing Zoe into the Search box top right of blog and Enter or Return

40 thoughts on “A Tale of Romance – Guest Post by Zoe The Fabulous Feline…”

  6. What a lovely tale, Zoe! Thank you so much for putting some warmth into my heart (wherever that warmth may have ended up). The mouse? Chomps (my little fella from ages ago) left one for me just outside my bedroom door one year. It was his pleasure and my nightmare. After that, he only chase the occasional long tailed intruder around the house, playing and never killed another. Although, I must say, I wish he would have taken them down. It would have saved us the sounds of traps going off in the middle of the night. (shudder) Happy Valentine’s Day to you, you sweet, mew mew.

    Liked by 3 people

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    • I thought you might like it, Miss Annette….being the poet extraordinaire that you are! I think that Chomps got way too soft…playing with those things?? Goodness! I guess some would say he evolved but I am with you. I would not like to hear the sound of traps in the night (hmmm….could that be another poem title?) Happy Valentine’s Day to you! (Oh, just by the way…you might note that I have not commented on where the warmth in your heart went :::: Cheshire grin:::::)

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  9. Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
    Zoe the Fabulous is a guest over at the Story Reading Ape with a love poem for Valentine’s Day to warm your cockles… Zoe let Emily tell you about the origins of that word.. Thanks Zoe… I was wondering what to get my human for Valentine’s Day and I think the offering you described might certainly make his cockles jump around a bit….

    Liked by 3 people

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  10. That’s a great story! Loved the part about screaming for joy at the sight of a dead mouse.
    Years ago, my cat (Sam) brought a dead wood rat into the house, laid it on the kitchen floor, and then re-enacted the kill for us (bravely tossing the dead rat around the room).
    We patted her on the head, told her she had done a good job, and then put the dead rat into a trash bag and threw it in the garbage. Sam didn’t understand the trash bag ending–she wanted to keep the rat as a forever trophy.

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      • I tried to look appreciative of all her gifts, no matter where they showed up.Sometimes it was really hard. Another thing Sam used to do—If I didn’t close my dresser drawers tight enough, she would pull my underwear or a t-shirt out and then toss it into her food bowl. My son said she was just making an offering to the food bowl god…kind of like tossing something into a Hawaiian volcano to appease Madam Pele. Well, she definitely did get my (food bowl god) attention!

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