Not the words of Shakespeare, nor even a very precise sonnet, but a little frivolity on the basis that it is alleged that the interweb likes cats almost as much as I do, and a great deal more than most other things, and a good way to draw attention to our funding drive to pay our performers and keep our Midsummer Shakespeare homage free to the audience.

So here is a courtly, catly entertainment.

Julian has taken the use of his image as the flattery for which it is intended, and anyone who knows him knows that every word is true – Philip Sydney reincarnate.

Shall I compare thee to another cat?
Thou art more lusty and yet the diplomat.
Rough Toms do bait my darling Kit in May,
And summer’s Queens were never quite so fat.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And then thy lustrous coat by dust is dimmed;
And even thou from hunt sometime declines,
By choice, or dinner’s changing course, untinned;
But thy eternal purring shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that heart thou own’st,
Nor shall one brag thou snoozest in his glade,
When above all felines thou art known’st.
So long as cats may breathe, or eyes may see,
So long lives this, and this gives love to thee.

I hasten to add that EVERYTHING we are doing on Midsummer’s Day is a great deal better written than this bit of silliness – is Caterall a thing?. Want to know more? (about the event, not the cat) Information here… and Crowdfund Here! We have just over a fortnight to raise the very modest £350, and so far only 2 very kind friends have proffered any assistance . So we really need your help!

(no cat was forced to dress up for this image!)