This is the mother of the two kittens below, plus a pretty tabby, and an amazing white and black kitten, with tabby ears and tale!

MOTHERHOOD

A timid tabby haunts the empty plot,
Shadow among the shadows, grey in the gloom.
The leaves hang still and chill where she is not.
Soft swish behind her shows where they made room.

Between the twilit twigs her dappled shape
Flits like a ghost, unheard, on silent paws,
Or fades along the alleys; soft escape
Matching the dimness, noiseless past the doors.

Yet, now, her half-grown kittens are shown with pride,
Installed near the railings. Passers-by can dote.
Close, in the bushes, tabby can safely hide,
Frantic, but fond, enjoy the praise, and gloat.

The opening gate brings terror to the plot.
The guardian mother towers like a ghost in the gloom;
Tigress with blazing eyes: Ah! Touch ye not!
Approach not this bristling vengeance; grey, spitting doom!

Desperate courage flares in the timid eyes.
Centuries of feline power rage in that glance.
Who can brave this gaze that petrifies?
In mid-step, frozen, the admirer halts his advance.

The intruder gone, a timid, nervous shape
Flits back to the bushes, dissolves, where shadows gape.