Annie, Amelia Earhart and the Bearded Man

Whenever Annie fed her flying cat,

a certain bearded man came back,

a handsome bearded man, in fact –

who spoke of this, but never that,

if “that’s” what Annie thought “that” was,

to ponder the sort of cat this was.

Clearly he’d never heard the buzz

that ran through town about the fuzz

and fur Amelia Earhart shed

which hadn’t missed a face or head

or food served out of doors: to eat

fur balls in soup was not a treat.

But no, the bearded man was there

because he loved seeing Annie care

for something so benignly rare

and interesting. Still sweeter fare

was when he heard the kitty’s name:

Amelia Earhart! – amazing dame!

And now he knew (had some bell

rung?) that Annie was one as well.

.