The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter, <br />It isn't just one of your holiday games; <br />You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter <br />When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES. <br />First of all, there's the name that the family use daily, <br />Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James, <br />Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey-- <br />All of them sensible everyday names. <br />There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter, <br />Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames: <br />Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter-- <br />But all of them sensible everyday names. <br />But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular, <br />A name that's peculiar, and more dignified, <br />Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular, <br />Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride? <br />Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum, <br />Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat, <br />Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum- <br />Names that never belong to more than one cat. <br />But above and beyond there's still one name left over, <br />And that is the name that you never will guess; <br />The name that no human research can discover-- <br />But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess. <br />When you notice a cat in profound meditation, <br />The reason, I tell you, is always the same: <br />His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation <br />Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name: <br />His ineffable effable <br />Effanineffable <br />Deep and inscrutable singular Name.<br /><br />Thomas Stearns Eliot<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-naming-of-cats/
