Stefsstells Kátur Kali

“Does this dog need a home?”

I’ll take him.

Such were my first

exchanges with Kátur Kali,

the furry fellow,

who struts in and out of here,

sings with his nose,

and dances,

and is turning 16 this summer.

I would never have believed

how much a dog can change

a person’s life - and for the better.

Animals are one bundle of feeling,

and somehow,

in a supremely quiet way,

they heal

everything in their closest surroundings,

draw out the gentleness in people,

and thus heal their immediate world.

There are countless times

I’m stopped on my way

by strangers,

smiling - and mostly at him,

the dog

(and this was before

he got so famous on the screen).

I can see from far off

how the heart center opens

in the person

we meet.

“He’s so well-mannered, that Kátur,”

Dad always said.

It’s true,

he doesn’t fawn all over you

nor get pushy.

Admittedly, he’s begun

to take part more and more

in the music-making here…

He almost never barks,

except

when people sing and laugh,

or when he sees a football.

He loves football,

and he’s good,

so skilled,

that the lads on our street

often come asking after him:

“Can Kátur come out to play football?”

And the sheep, my word…

The first time I took him on the roundup,

it was a joy to watch him-

the city dog-

who had never herded sheep before

how he zigzagged behind the ewes

and brought them down off the mountain.

Yes, our animals, great and small.

Was it not Frederick II, King of Prussia,

who is said to have said:

“The better I get to know men,

the fonder I grow of my dog.”

I’m not quite there,

but animals are certainly not

witless beasts.

Maybe it’s just

HOMO DIGITAL

that is senseless…?

#heimameðhelga 27. 2. 2021

Photo of Kátur Kali, by Ágúst Elí Ágústsson

Stefsstells Kátur Kali, born 2005.

Sire: Stjörnuljósa Mána Snarpur

Dam: Stefsstells Aska Spesía