Artists like cats, soldiers like dogs.
– Desmond Morris
Ode To Spot
This is the poem Data (from Star Trek: The Next Generation) wrote to his cat. He recites it to the rest of the crew in the episode “Schisms.” I like it because it completely personifies Data: brilliant, sweet, and somehow childishly innocent.
Felis Cattus is your taxonomic nomenclature,
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature.
Your visual, olfactory and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills, and natural defenses.
I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
A singular development of cat communications
That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
For a rhythmic stroking of your fur, to demonstrate affection.
A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aide in locomotion,
It often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.
O Spot, the complex levels of behaviour you display
Connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.
