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Read and listen to The Name of Cats

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Summary

Ciao a tutti! Come state? Ieri è stata la Festa Nazionale del Gatto ed, ovviamente, non potevo non pensare al nostro caro Luke con la poesia di questa sera.

He is my dearest friend (but don't let Lussy hear it), my ginger cat. If I think about when he was bad e mi ha fatto tanto spaventare!

Ancora ricordo quando è arrivato a casa, io ed Eugenio scegliemmo il nome Luke (pensando a Star Wars), mamma ci prendeva in giro chiamandolo Lucariello come una comedy Neapolitan. How many laughs!

E questa poesia proprio di quello parla, di quanto sia importante scegliere un nome giusto per un gatto.

Il nome dei gatti — Luke eats from his bowl at home

Read carefully

The name of the cats – Thomas Stearns Eliot

Naming cats is a difficult undertaking,
Not one of the many games you play on holidays;
You might even think at first that I'm mad as hell
When I tell you that a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

First of all, there's the name the family uses every day,
Like Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Like Vittorio or Gionata, Giorgio or Bill Baley –
All sensible names to use every day.

But if you think they sound better, there are fancier names,
Some for gentlemen, some for ladies:
Like Plato, Admetus, Electra or Demetrius –
Always sensible names to use every day.

But I tell you that a cat needs a name that is particular,
Characteristic, in short, and much more dignified,
How else could he keep his tail straight,
Or showing off a mustache, or feeling proud?

Names like this I can invent a thousand,
Like Munkustrap, Quaxo or Coricopat,
Like Bombalurina or Jellylorum –
Names that never belong to more than one cat at a time.

But besides these there is still one name missing,
Name you will never be able to guess;
Name that no human search can ever find –
But the CAT KNOWS IT, even if he never wants to confide it.

When you see a cat in deep meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is lost in ecstatic contemplation.

Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
Of his ineffable effable
Effeffable
Deep and inscrutable unique Name.