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III. Nature Of The Sacrifice
Kicked out of the house
For stubbornly refusing to respond to discipline
And making life hellish for me
Each time the sanctity of the ornamental flower pot in question
Was desecrated with unholy poop
Belonging to one, or all, of you
Each time one, or all, of you
Was caught red-handed
With your hand in the cookie jar,
So to speak,
Or by the evidence left behind
Although the typical youthful exuberance expected of three-month-old kittens
Offered in your defense by your counsel
Does weigh considerably in your favor.
So, what shall the verdict be,
To remain in exile on the other side of the school in front
Where you were relocated in the middle of the night
Or be brought back in three days time
If search-and-locate attempts were favorable?
As usual, we shall let the judge, or the gods,
Whichever the case might be,
Decide.
After all, an exiled cat once managed to find its way back
All by itself in the past,
And just as kittens were always going missing,
As if snatched by an unseen hand,
And in some cases reappearing after a few days,
As if led by an unseen hand,
The gods could always send an angel to lead you back,
If they so desired,
Couldn't they?
On the other hand,
Perhaps you were a hundred times better off where you were,
For the simple reason that wherever you were,
You were not getting the trashing of your lives
For bad behavior in my judgement
As would the case be had you been here
Each time you needed to be disciplined
For bad behavior in my judgement
Which at times was a bit too extreme and a bit too harsh
In terms of getting flogged until it seemed,
In my own words,
As if the hand wielding the rod
Was about to fall off,
Such was the force of the flogging,
In which case,
A more fitting title would be,
Exiled For Your Own Good,
Perhaps?
But only for now,
For I have sworn,
With upraised hand,
To come looking for you
In view of bringing you back
To the place of your birth
The day I struck the jackpot
And found myself in a position
To buy the house from the neighbors next door on the left,
Where the offending ornamental flower pot was,
And once the carrot dangled before them was of a size they could not say no to
And they gladly moved out
And the house was mine,
The first thing to be done
Was to break the offending ornamental flower pot
Into a million pieces
And then come looking for you,
So stay safe and healthy,
For as surely as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west,
I shall do exactly as I have sworn to do,
With upraised hand,
And which I shall,
With God's help and blessings,
Lord, hear my prayer,
Amen.
