Testing the new SUNO 6.0 engine.

WARNING: Sad!

• For seventeen years a tabby cat
• Slept by the open fire
• He knew the sound of the old man’s chair
• And the songs his wife would hum.

• Then one cold morning the cat didn’t wake
• So they laid him beneath his favourite tree
• And when they came inside again
• There were two where once were three.

• The seasons passed, the house stayed still
• Though grief grew softer somehow
• Till one day they drove to the rescue place
• And said, “We think we’re ready now.”

• A little black kitten climbed his sleeve
• And she laughed, “Well, we are his now!”
• He tore the curtains, chased the dust
• And filled their empty home with life.

• Some hearts are hurt by grieving
• When someone they love is gone
• And some hearts will stay beside you
• And help you carry on.

• They cannot stop the grieving
• They cannot make things right
• But no one should face sorrow
• With no one by their side.

• The kitten grew, the years went by
• And three souls shared the home
• Then age stilled her gentle heart
• And two were left behind.

• The old man wept into his hands
• The cat climbed softly onto his knee
• And neither one could understand
• Why there were two where once were three.

• More winters passed. The old man slowed.
• The cat’s black fur turned grey.
• Then one day they took the old man away
• The cat watched from the door.

• He waited there to hear his steps
• Like he’d done many times before
• He could not know the man he loved
• Would never come back home.

• They took him back to the rescue home
• The very place he’d left
• He watched people choose the younger cats
• And everyone passed him by.

• He wouldn’t eat. He wouldn’t play.
• He’d lost the world he’d known.
• An elderly lady stopped and asked,

• “Are you old and alone?”

• He meowed, she smiled and said,
• “So am I!”

• Then she took him home.

• Her walls were filled with photographs
• Of cats she’d loved before,
• Their faces looked from every frame,
• But no paws crossed the floor.

• Her husband’s picture stood among them.
• She touched it through her tears.
• The old cat climbed upon her knee.
• He knew what loss could be.

• For several years he shared her chair
• And slept beside her feet
• He learned the rhythm of her days
• And knew each friend she’d meet.

• Two ageing souls in a quiet house
• Each knowing they weren’t alone
• Till one night she lay down in bed
• And never woke again.

• He climbed onto the bed beside her
• Curled against her quiet chest
• And laid his head beneath her hand
• As though they’d gone to rest.

• He’d been tired for a long, long time
• But there was one thing left to do
• He’d lost two hearts he’d loved before
• He would not leave this one too.

• So he stayed close to her,
• Never stirring from her side,
• And sometime near the morning
• The old cat closed his eyes.

• Some hearts keep on caring
• Though each goodbye brings pain
• And some stay just a little longer
• So someone won’t be alone.

• He knew her time had come
• And would not leave her side.

• He only waited till she went
• Then followed her that night.

• When they found them in the morning
• They were lying side by side.

• And for the first time in his long life

He didn’t have to say goodbye.