When evening shadows fill the hall,
And daylight fades beyond recall,
Our Niamh begins her nightly quest,
To lead dear Andrew off to rest.

She seeks him where he lingers yet,
With book or coke unfinished set;
She fixes him with steady gaze,
As though amazed by human ways.

The appointed hour has surely come,
Yet still he sits and lingers on;
She turns and starts to climb the stair,
Then checks to see that he is there.

A shepherd could not better keep
His charge from wandering like a sheep;
With careful eye and measured tread,
She leads my human off to bed.

And should we stay away too long,
Delayed by talk and food and song,
She waits upon the stair in gloom,
Expecting his return quite soon.

For Niamh believes with all her heart
That bedtime is a serious art;
And Andrew's presence she requires
Before the household may retire.

Yet lest you think her loyalties
Belong to him by such degrees,
I need but scratch a chair or mat,
And swiftly comes my faithful cat.

A finger raked on carpet's weave,
And she appears without reprieve;
No trumpet call could clearer be,
For she comes running straight to me.

She knows the voice of hand on chair,
The little summons through the air;
Before another breath is drawn,
She races in from dusk or dawn.

So all the household knows it's true,
Her heart is mine the whole year through;
Though Andrew holds a cherished place,
And earns her fond and watchful grace.

At night she takes him up instead,
And tucks him safely into bed;
No king was ever served with more
Devotion at his chamber door.

Then, settled through the hours till day,
She curls beside him where he lay;
And it must sadly be confessed,
She shares his bed more than the rest.

Indeed I sometimes smile to see
The odd arrangement fate decreed:
She's very clearly, without doubt,
My cat when all the truth comes out.

Yet every night she seems to say,
"Your husband now must come away;
He's under my protection still,
And bedtime comes by my good will."

So Andrew follows, meek and glad,
Obedient as a well-trained lad;
While Niamh, content with duty done,
Sleeps knowing that her charge is won.