Poetry Exercise No. 14: Villanelle

Ok, I personally think this is a terrible attempt. But I have stopped writing for some time, so am pushing this out just to get started again. The assignment is a villanelle. I've actually explained the villanelle form in an earlier post so all that's left now is the exercise. Since the villanelle is a French form, I sought inspiration from my recent trip to France (for more, read here). Here goes:

The Chateau of Chenonceau

Through my galleries people come and go
They live, dream, laugh and cry, whilst all the while
Beneath my bridges does the river flow

Thomas Bohier first built the chateau
Katherine his wife furnished it with style
Through my galleries people come and go

Henry Second the castle did bestow
On lovely Diane just to see her smile
Beneath my bridges does the river flow

Henry died and Catherine his widow
Seized Chenonceau for her very own pile
Through my galleries people come and go

Catherine built a hall for the chateau
Festivals were held, dances in the aisle
Beneath this hall does the river flow

Now, tourists walk the halls of Chenonceau
For the camera their faces do smile
Through my galleries people come and go
Beneath my bridges watch the river flow

Photo shows the great hall at Chenonceau, built over the river. Note that there is a certain poetic licence taken in one verse.

P.S. For villanelles, the middle line must rhyme throughout, just as the first line of each verse must rhyme with the last. A rhyming dictionary is pretty useful here.

P.P.S I had to amend the poem. Forgot that villanelles are supposed to have only 6 stanzas of 3 lines each. Anyway, don't think the junked verses were much loss.

A Case of Gender Confusion

My father has been feeding two cats from the nearby road for some time now. They are pretty animals - white, with just a few black markings on their foreheads. Every evening, he picks them up, brings them into a house and puts them in the cage so that they can be fed without interference from the other cats. Then, after they have eaten, he releases them.

Anyway, preliminary assessment was that they were both males. We had (as usual) been making preparations for sterilising the two cats and the plan was to familiarise them to human contact, and then hopefully find them an adopter. In the interim, I called them whiteboy1 and whiteboy2 (no more intimate names as these would lead to greater feeling of involvement and ownership). We had taken the larger of the two for sterilisation but my father felt that the smaller one could wait a little.

Such was the state of affairs when my father and I were walking home Sunday evening and saw Paddy, our big male cat lying on top of some white fur. Now we had neutered Paddy so that, in itself was surprising. It was even more surprising, when we approached a little nearer to Paddy, and found that he was lying on top of whiteboy2!!!

Well, Paddy's behaviour was not inexplicable. After all, we did neuter him a little late in the day (we were prioritising females, younger males first). As for whiteboy2 - the simplest explanations are often likely to be the most accurate. Looks as though whiteboy2 is really whitegirl, on heat.

Back to cats

Now that I have finished all these French posts, I can go back to blogging about my daily life and more importantly, my cats!

I did not mention it earlier but whilst I was in France I got a sad SMS from my mother: "Patches died". This was the day after I messaged her to check on the cats and she had replied "all ok". So this message was a little unexpected.

Patches is one of our "street cats" i.e. he lives somewhere on the street and we feed him at night. He's been around awhile, and I suspect could have fathered one of the pirate kittens, Smee (they both have slightly shorter "munchkin"-like legs), prior to his being neutered. He tried coming to our house but Paddy chased him off and so he is fed on the pavement opposite our house.

One day my father (the chief feeder) said that he hadn't seen Patches around for a week. Now the thing about the street cats is that they come and go frequently - if they disappear, it is very difficult for us to find them. So we could only wait for Patches to reappear which he did, a day or two later, on our doorstep. His appearance was shocking - completely bedraggled, very thin, and could hardly walk. We put him in one of the cages, fed him (he was really hungry) and monitored him. The next day, we took him out of the cage so he could eat and walk around a bit. Then, despite his weak state, he staggered outside and refused to come back. As the days passed this pattern continued. He came regularly for food but left after he had eaten. He seemed to improve. The other cats did not like his appearance on our doorstep and avoided the house when he was around.

Whilst I was in France, these little journeys of his proved his undoing. It rained torrents one day and poor Patches was caught in it. He came back soaked to the skin. My parents dried him off, put him in a towel and tried to warm him up. But by the morning, he had passed away. Poor Patches. He was a spunky and independent cat, and when we got to know him better, an affectionate one. We will miss him.


It has generally not been a good time for our cats. Sootie has been urinating blood. It is a result of feeding him cheap cat food - what can we do when we feed 15 cats in total - but false economy now as the vet bills are racking up. At our first visit, we got some antibiotics for him. 3 weeks after our initial visit, the problem is still there. Brought him for a second vet visit and found he's now dehydrated. He needs to be infused with about 220ml of saline, for 3 days in a row. He refuses the healthy prescription diet supplied by the vet and so we need to decide whether to give him the food which he is used to, even tho' its not so good for him. As the picture shows, he is very well behaved at the vet - terrified, poor boy.

Mickey's got problems eating, and of course his worm problem hasn't gone away either. Another vet visit, but at least the inflamation in his mouth is going away and his appetite is back (in a big way). Mollie, on the other hand has been limping for a few days now. Whiteboy1 (another stray) had an abcess on his cheek, likely caused by a wound infected from a fight. Fortunately it has burst and we cleaned it and threw antiseptic powder on it.

And of course, Dinky has gotten fleas from somewhere! Sigh. It never rains but paws.