Once, upon a morning rainy, I regarded; wan and sleepy
thereupon a table laden with accoutrements of gore.
Craft forgotten; stood I dozing: Corpse and scalpel thence forsaking,
eyes upon a sight unnerving--one I’d never glimpsed before.
There it lay: a .png obtained from Google’s image store.
Such it was and nothing more.
--
How it tore my thoughts asunder; this one morning in September
her fond reminiscence tender--too insistent to ignore.
Anxiously; as I’m recalling, I awaited there for evening,
hence anticipate returning--resting tired quill and claw.
In my boredom, idly skimming Google’s offerings galore
till the page quoth 404.
--
Ere that error passed unbidden; journeying to realms forbidden
would I glimpse a sight uncertain--yet resounding in my core.
Even now, to quell the feeling in my being it bears describing
to such audience remaining; what phenomenon I saw
when exploring social media's caverns of unsorted lore
that shall haunt me evermore.
--
Thus I crave thy patience keenly while explaining picture clearly:
Arctic wildernesses dreary was the stimuli I saw.
Bleak and (honestly) foreboding monoliths of ice upsoaring
from a frozen sea uncaring; flecked in pale obsidian ore.
Apocalyptic vistas yawning wide her unaccustomed maw:
This it was and nothing more.
--
Yet (alas!) I lost my pleasure lighting on a short disclaimer
writ by some sadistic author in description that it bore:
Careless sentence written idly of a Challenge; stating only
'Find the unexpected kitty' somewhere in this scene I saw.
In this mission I exulted; seeking thus to prove my paw
out of pride and nothing more.
--
Swiftly to assignment turning, I perused its image frowning;
seeking thus to pierce the drawing and uncover what it bore.
"More than likely some illusion," thus I scoffed, "I'll see for certain
what this artist might have hidden in this lonely landscape's core.
Fool to even think of hiding any secrets from my claw!"
Minutes passed. Then minutes more.
--
There I stared, my soul a-quiver, part in fear and part in anger
hereupon this pet disaster: prey unto a carnivore.
Nary clue nor signal gave me; though there surely can't be any
mere illusion that could fool me--other sites had tried before.
Facebook, twitter and Discord have tried their hardest well before;
unsuceeding--nevermore!
--
Such a puzzle thus bamboozling my poor ego into swearing
that I fain observed it speaking; mocking my perceptive flaw.
"Cat concealed within my vision, be revealed," quoth I, outspoken,
"Quit thy sanctuary as bidden--hide in icy scapes wherefore?"
Show yourself unto my gaze and leave your hiding place therefore--
No? You realize, this means war!"
--
Woe betide! For then; unseemly, spoke my colleague from behind me
"Do you know you talk insanely?" pointing to the screen I saw.
Admonitions great were spoken, or entreaties I've forgotten,
for my mind was rent and broken--shattered by that frozen shore.
"Kitty: Find the hidden kitty." Hours drag and pass before.
Nothing mattered anymore
--
"Let this be your final warning! Back to work!" My boss complaining,
shook a livid fist foreboding; though I scarcely heard or saw.
Nothing quoth by lord or lady in that moment could persuade me--
cast upon that scene ungainly of this unassuming shore:
bleak and cruel were the spires that unto gray heavens soar...
Not a single cat wherefore.
--
To my mind this world grew darker, losing thus its former lustre,
rigor mortis creeping closer 'pon the corpses on my floor.
"Random post!" I begged, "Absolve me! By Creator who has drawn thee!
Lend a poor mortician mercy--Show your cat to me therefore!"
Quoth the server: 404.
--
"Nay!" shrieked I, "Accursed devil! Photoshopped device of evil,
if thou fain cannot be civil, I now cast thee hence ashore!
Leave no .jpeg as a token of experience best forgotten!
Yield to me my peace unbroken, as I once enjoyed before...
Get ye gone!" And now superior showed me gently to the door--
Once my colleague; nevermore!
--
Yet this winter scene foreboding, still is present; STILL existing
trapped within a mind unseeing when I cannot a meme ignore.
Somewhere on that page uncertain lurks a feline that is hidden
and the memories unbidden tease and torment me therefore.
Tease and tear upon my soul in words writ large on screen before:
Quoth the server: 404.
