King of the Road

By luigi_pagano

Sat, 11 Jan 2020
  • 2354 reads
10 comments
 
I wanted to call him Tobias
but the children objected,
thought it was too elitist
and shortened the name to Toby.
Despite this, he retained his nobility.
He strutted with his head erect,
an upright tail and a monocled eye.
 
His mobility would later decline
but when young he got up
to all sorts of capers.
He knew what went on in the world
although he didn't read the papers.
Learnt when to condescend
but could also pretend to be common.
 
He mixed with the hoi polloi.
whose riotous behaviour was fierce.
Didn't fight. Was a pacifist (or a coward);
discretion is the better part of valour.
He was a tom and he got around,
although he's gone he can't be forgotten,
Toby's clones populate our street.
 
© Luigi Pagano 2020
Certificate U
Poem
Mutevoli pensieri

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

A great tribute toToby and all those other cats that are so endearing. 

By the way, what is that word hoi polloi? I've never heard of it before.

Jenny. xx

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Dear Jenny, 
” From Greek, meaning “the many.”
hoi polloi. (hɔɪ pəlɔɪ ) plural noun. If someone refers to the hoi polloi, they are referring in a humorous or rather rude way to ordinary people, in contrast to rich, well-educated, or upper-class people. 
As you don't know the meaning of that word you are obviously part of the upper crust. smiley

Lots of love from one of the masses.
Luigi xx

 

 

Submitted by drew_gummerson on

Ah poor Toby. A lovely honour to his memory. From one of the hoi piolloi. Drew

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Power to the people, Drew, as "Wolfie Smith" used to say in the television series "Citizen Smith". smiley

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Do you remember when Wolfie was painting "Power To The People!" on a wall, but at "The" he got to the end of the wall, and went into a rant about how typical it was of society not make decent sized  walls anymore?

There are an awful lot of black and white cats here too (Tina being one) who all seem to keep going missing

Toby looks very aristocratic. I really like this :

Learnt when to condescend
but could also pretend to be common.

It's good you can still see his descendents everywhere, he does sound a character  :0)

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Hi Di. Talking of cats going missing, prior to Toby I used to have another black and white cat called, what else but Whisky. We had a very long garden which faced a big field and I built a path on which he slowly trundled to the fence at the end. Often he would disappear for weeks on end and then suddenly return grumbling all the way asking to be fed. We eventually found out that he was commuting between our house and one on the opposite field.

 

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

 :0) Pretending to be starving when all he had done was stroll across the field!

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Obviously asking for seconds. smiley

 

Submitted by onemorething on

I like this very much Luigi. As a fellow cat lover, I feel I should point out that you have probably underestimated him - I'm sure he read the papers regularly when you weren't looking. I know that my cat has surprising political views from his wide reading. :)

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

You may be right. He used to sleep on the couch on top of a stack of discarded newspapers. smiley