7.4.06

The Mystery Cat by T.S.Elliot


Macavity: The Mystery Cat By T.S.Elliot.

Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw - For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime - Macavity's not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare, And when you reach the scene of crime - Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air - But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!


Mcavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.







Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square -
But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there!

He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's.
And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair -
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there!


And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty's gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair
- But it's useless to investigate - Mcavity's not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say: `
It must have been Macavity!' - but he's a mile away.
You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,
Or engaged in doing complicated long-division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spaer:
At whatever time the deed took place - MACAVITY WASN'T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!

12 σχόλια:

Xνούδι είπε...

έτσι Γιώργο μου. Ετσι.

(γνωστή φυσιογνωμία αυτό το γατί)

(Αυτός ο τρόπος προσέγγισης μου αρέσει πολύ. Ξέρεις τι εννοώ ε;)

Χνουδένιες καλημέρες.


;-)

Κωστής Γκορτζής είπε...

Φίλε Ανατέλλοντα, με δυό λέξεις το Χνούδι κάλυψε το σχόλιό μου. Αλλά, παρατηρώντας τα μπλόγκ σας (κυρίως) διαισθάνομαι ότι μια καινούργια Τέχνη αναδύεται και περιλαμβάνει λογοτεχνία, σκηνογραφία, ζωγραφική, μουσική..., κάτι πολύ καλύτερο από αυτό που ψιλιαζόμαστε συμβαίνει εδώ. Κάτι μυστικό (ακόμα) και παράξενο...

Ανώνυμος είπε...

Τσ.. τσ.. Τ.Σ.Ελιοτ!

Πώς ξεγλιστρά έτσι αυτός ο γάτος;
Ούτε η 'έρπουσα σκιά' να 'τανε...

Καλησπέρα!

He always has an alibi, and one or two to spaer (μάλλον 'spare' ε?)

Ανώνυμος είπε...

check your mail
Σ;)

Χαρτοπόντικας είπε...
Αυτό το σχόλιο αφαιρέθηκε από έναν διαχειριστή ιστολογίου.
Χαρτοπόντικας είπε...

Κανονικά εγώ ως ποντικός θάπρεπε να φρικιώ ανάμεσα σε τόσες γάτες, δεν μπορώ όμως να μη χειροκροτήσω το καλό γούστο!

apousia είπε...

Προσυπογράφω και όχι μόνο, τα λόγια του ημίαιμου..
Καληνύχτα δύοντα!

Ανώνυμος είπε...

As a grey cat living a cloistered, bookish life in a small college town in the U.S. I must thank you for the excitement you gave me by posting the thrilling "epicat poem" (see Oxford Dictionary of Cats, 333ff) on the sinister life of Macavity, the Mystery Cat (see also references in Cats: A Concordance of Annotated Texts. Cambridge and London: Cambridge University Press, 2003). The photographs really transfixed me and sent cold chills down my feline spine!
Melina

Ανώνυμος είπε...

Greetings from the US! Thanks for this, quite interesting....can be read in so many different ways. Appreciate you stopping by (wish I could hear your program!) and will post another blues comp for you later next week with some music you may not have heard before...Thanks & Cheers!

Aliki2006 είπε...

I've always loved Eliot's "cat poems"--I'll try reading this one to our cat later today and see if it evokes any response. The pictures are beautiful! Liam and I looked at them for a long time--what a wonderful collection.

P.S. to melina--izzy is wondering if she knows you from somewhere?

--Alissa

Ανώνυμος είπε...

It is remarkable, this very valuable opinion

Ανώνυμος είπε...

You commit an error. I can prove it.