Cyn & Rene,

Thanks for your input. I will rethink a couple of those wisdom gilded suggestions. 

Quote:

For what it's worth, I still do not think the above line [it couldn't] is necessary.

Here is part of my continuing dilemma: 

To write in your natural tone is to write as you would typically speak. I, as a speaker, would use the redundancy with effective impact. It may be that effective written communication is tempered differently enough that such redundancies are not wise, but it is the natural way I speak and form a thought. 

Quote:

I would agree with Cyn that thus sounds too formal. . .and was partial to the "now".

I prefer the original use of "now"; but, ironically enough, I make "thus" a typical part of my daily, i.e. casual, vocabulary. Thus, it is quite informal to my ear. This being said, I believe I shall return to the now.

Thanks again,

Doug

Yes I felt it was redundant and did not really add. You say YOU wanted to stay, *I* didn't want you to go. The *you* and *I* are there. And you already say we.

If you wrote You and I had an understanding, then it would not be as redundant, and you would set up in the first line that you were talking about a you and an I but I also don't think that is necessary and sounds a bit formal for this piece.

I also think Thus sounds too formal and would use "and so"

But this is just my opinion 
Cyn

pinkcottoncandy wrote on Jan 1^st, 1970 at 12:00am:

I immediately connected with this.  I hate to say it, but the deaths that have been the most painful for me over the years have been the deaths of my pets.  I watched my dog get hit and killed by a car when I was nine.  That was my first true experience with the sting of death.  I remember being twenty-six and comforting my cat as it died purring away, old and satisfied.  My children want a pet so bad and I would love them to have one.  I believe the love a child feels for a pet really can help them to develop emotionally.  Unfortunately, as a single-parent who works full-time and goes to school full-time, I can't take on the extra responsibility.  Hopefully one day they'll know the joys and pains of caring for a pet.

Is Sculley the remaining cat?

Writer,

Thanks for stopping by. We are strongly considering getting another cat to keep company with our remaining cat. Not to "replace" Mulder, but to renew the joy of sharing life. Nothing can replace a relationship with another; they are as unique in there construction as snowflakes. No two the same, but all are beautiful. 

Doug

someone said "If cat's could speak to humans, they wouldn't"

I've a feeling that you and the cat had many conversations, just as Sam and I have had.
Sam is gone as well and though two kittens have deigned to honor our house with their presence (at least that's way they look at it), neither of them is Sam. Now I have to learn to speak kitten.

in the last stanza, "I sit alone now" would flow a little better than the current construct.

maybe change the last line to "of understanding why" or "of knowing why" or something like that.

nice piece, nice tribute.

writer

duetsdove wrote on Jan 1^st, 1970 at 12:00am:

Hey there!  Nice to read you again. . .it's been a while.

This is heart-wrenchingly lovely. . .I am a cat-lover. . .have two. . .lost them both. . .have two again. . .one who is escpecially cuddly as this one must have been. . .I've known that empty lap.

jmho. . .I would omit "alas, it couldn't". . .simply going into the last stanza.   Also might consider eliminating "so" in L4. . .and possibly replace the first as in L6. . .with "while". . .

Lovely. . .bittersweet. . .and lovely.

~Rene~

Rene,

Sorry...I missed your comment somehow. Thanks for stopping by. As usual you have made some excellent points. I must admit a certain lack of critical editing on this one. It was more of a cathartic exercise than anything else. I will attend to your suggestions. 

Yes, I have not been as active as I would like to be; I hope this will change in the coming year. 

Thanks again,

Doug