Note: The idea of cats having multiple lives likely emerged from ancient Egyptian reverence for cats and their perceived connection to the divine, with the number nine possibly stemming from the sun god Atum-Ra, who was believed to take the form of a cat when visiting the underworld and who gave birth to eight other gods, thus representing nine lives in one.
NINE
I say there’s an omen in the number nine,
waiting like a crouching lion.
think of the terrible fate of the kings
who accepted Sauron’s nine powerful rings.
and what horrors await, only Dante can tell,
for those who end up in his nine circles of hell.
and what of Pluto, that planetary stub,
who, for being a dwarf, was kicked out of the club
of nine.
fine, what you say. it sounds wise.
but be leary. Ask any cat with her bank
of nine lives what she happens to think
of your cynical theory.