The Hungry Cat Kalua Poem by Akhtar Jawad

She was born in the house, adjacent to ours,
She had a sister and another one,
The other one expired at an early age,
But the two survived.

Her sister was white,
Beautiful and healthy,
They used to visit our house,
In search of some food,

My daughter was kind on cats,
And so were my grand children.
They named the black cat as Kalua,
And the white one as Malua,

For some reasons my neighbors,
Left the house on lease,
Kalua and Malua migrated to our house,
For shelter, being helpless.

Whenever my daughter gave food to them,
They fought like dogs to have more food,
The winner was always Malua,
And the loser always Kalua.

The dejected Kalua left the house,
But was often seen roaming on the road,
How could one forget the place of his birth!
A place where he is grown up and socialized!

Malua was the monarch in our house,
My wife had a soft corner for the white cat,
Probably because no one loved Malua,
Or because she was whitish I am brownish.

The time passed quickly,
And Malua became an adult,
She started dating,
And I was annoyed of the male cat visitors.

My grand children sometimes asked,
What are they doing?
How could I explain,
Their romantic love scene.

And then came a bad day,
Malua was hit by a fast moving car,
Was severely injured,
And could not survive.

My wife was sad,
For her tragic end,
But what she could do?
Ironny of fate!

My grand children called in now Kalua,
And she came in as she followed them,
Their universal language,
The language of love.

The time passed more,
Kalua got a male,
And I was surprised,
Only one male cat.

The male cat started living in our house,
We call it, a son-in-law at home,
A happy couple,
With a pleasant life.

I noticed an amazing behavior,
When Kalua was given some food by the children,
She always called her male,
To share the food.

Then came another bad day for the cats,
The male of Kalua left the house and was never seen again,
Kalua now passed life like an Indian widow,
And I noted she was carrying.

And today in the morning,
Kalua came down and sat by the door,
And started crying,
Crying of hunger.

I don't like cats,
Like my daughter and children,
My wife was sleeping,
And my daughter is in Jeddah.

There was no one to help,
And the cat was hungry,
Needing more food,
As she is carrying.

I opened the freezer took a piece of mutton,
Being ashamed I took one more,
And I went to Kalua,
Who ran away when she saw me.

As I was never, kind to her,
And I have been, a sight of fear,
And sometimes I, a man of terror,
How unjust! How unfair!

Then I spoke the universal language,
The language of love,
Kalua rushed to me,
Took the pieces of meat.

I am also like this cat,
Off course not carrying,
But left my birth place,
In search of bread.

Why circumstances force someone,
To leave the birth place, the native land,
Why in the world there are immigrants,
Emotionally divided in two different persons?

I can't forget my place of birth,
Fearless I say, I still love She,
But I can't ignore my place of shelter,
Where I asked for one and got two breads.

I can wish, I can dream,
The both may live long!
With peace and prosperity,
Like idols of love and coexistence.