Liber Martis - Chapter 45

Verses

A red cat slept beside the sword rack, and the warriors stepped around him more carefully than they stepped around swords.

The master said, Observe: the cat possesses claws and therefore does not discuss claws all afternoon.

A kitten attacked its own tail until exhausted. The jinn wrote this down as a complete history of empire.

Two tomcats disputed a wall at midnight. By dawn neither remembered the wall, but both remembered the insult.

The cat does not conquer the sunbeam. It occupies it until the sunbeam moves.

A general asked the cat how to win without fighting. The cat looked away, which the general interpreted incorrectly for thirty years.

One mouse called the cat a tyrant. Another called him destiny. The cat was busy washing his shoulder.

The red planet has two moons named Fear and Dread. A household cat needs neither; one cardboard box is sufficient government.

When Mars rises, men sharpen iron. When the cat rises, everyone checks whether the food bowl is empty.

The jinn said, Power is knowing you could scratch. The cat said nothing, but left one claw on his sleeve.

Blessed is the creature that can be fierce without making fierceness its profession.