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The Cat’s Elegy

nea CAT'S ELEGY

By GELETT BURGESS

and

BURGES JOHNSON

CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1913

Copyright } ; A.C. McCLURG & CO, i) 1913 Hit

Published March, 1913 fap)" . ‘i

f

i Wang

a1) a a ws! rat or Hy . WAL mary

¥

I

PYHE tea-bell tolls for Nell to pass the tray, The glowing cook winds slowly up the clock,

The ashman homeward wends his weary way

And leaves a trail of cinders round the block.

We OW fade the dingy fences on™? .§ sur sight, : And all the air is still, except, maybe, Where some street-organ, faintly through the night, Wafts “Holy City” and “The Bam-

> ’ a pF

VE that from yonder sparsely slated roof A moping Tom doth moan- ingly complain

(While other felines darkly hold

aloof)

That his Maria lucklessly was slain.

PM ENEATH the shade yon

- dying pear tree sheds,

#@ Where rest tomato cans on

. ashy heaps,

Where cast-off garments line the pansy beds,

The flattened form of poor Maria

sleeps. AT 7 yf

4 ra ‘ 4

Ferhat

in the morn,

The cook’s insistent, matuti- nal grouch,

The scissors grinder’s harsh and rau- cous horn

No more shall rouse her from her

weedy couch.

WOR her no more shall wave 7 the threatening broom, Or busy housewife scat her from the chair, No children run to chase her from

the room, Or pampered dogs besiege her in her lair.

VII

FT sought she out appointed “ | rendezvous, » In dalliance spent the fair-

hig estas est of her days, Or nightly studied, with her art in view,

The acoustic properties of alley-ways.

Vill

> FT did the predatory cur ; rejoice

s J To drive her, quivering, up

: this lonely tree;

How jocund did she raise nocturnal voice!

How cursed the lodgers, kept awake

at three!

5ET not some grooméd lap cat e’er decry The humble realm of that backyard obscure — The battered gate, the clothesline whence there fly The short and simple flannels of

Xx

“R&A Shae

PYHE boast of Tortoise-shell,\

the pomp of Manx, ee

The Persian, bearing pedi- gree profound,

All dread alike the catcher’s nimble shanks —

The public highways lead but to the pound.

XI

er, gaunt and lean;

Has filled this alley with his music rare;

Full many a cat is born to howl un- seen,

And waste his sweetness on the city

air.

a

POR you, ye proud, impute to ° him the sin, Who in his nightshirt did his window raise,

And, hurling down his missile at the din,

Ended the joyance of her heartfelt lays!

XIII

= ETURNING from some animated bust, Back to his mansion, pale and sick at heart,

Maria’s voice provoked his latent lust For blood; she fell a victim to her art.

sERHAPS in this neglected™

f form has been

_ A soul that in Bubastis might have reigned;

The Goddess Pasht have recognized as kin; Or ruled Kilkenny ere its glory waned.

P= AR from the madding 1 crowd she was not feased, The while her vagrom fan- cies made her stray

Along the sequestered alley, where she raised

The nightly noisy tenor of her lay.

prey, That weird elusive being e’er could mark? Who has not raised his window in

dismay And blindly cast some weapon through the dark ?

XVII

ET on some pavement, soon “ or late, there lies

The cat who tortures slum- ber while she prowls;

While from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,

As some small urchin imitates her

howls.

XVIII

T Requies Cat, now that

, she is dead

p (Nine times she died, and

“ therefore quite deceased)

Approach and read (with friends to hold thy head)

This touching tribute to the

little beast.

EPITAPH

3 RE lies poor Puss, with ’ collar unbedight,

¥ ¥

- A homeless cat, a thing of skin and bone,

Full-throated rose her swan song on the night,

And now the dust-heap claims her for its own.

: P

Rep a eh WN ans Ca ashe ri

od Hy =a |

Uh 7

ly v Bt ey es

nal Dy ay 2) 7

RETURN CIRCULATION DEP AR Meret

—— TOmemp 202 Main Library Deter * LOAN PERIOD 1- 20H Is Wee : 3 iY HOME USE s 6 |4 5 6 ry

HH ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS ; a Renewals and Recharges may be made 4 days prior to the due date. rh Books may be Renewed by calling 642-3405 es 4 a AS STAMPED BELOW i i zi) ‘ JUN 4 4 1956 f

CIRCULATION Dept

~

FORM. NO. DD6

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY "BERKELEY, CA 94720 — m of Nea 4

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C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES COSb072543

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