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 leiaxe rated 27 months ago - I've loved this poem ever since I first read it. "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" by T.S. Eliot: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:...
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1 Reviews
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- leiaxe rated 27 months ago
- I've loved this poem ever since I first read it. "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" by T.S. Eliot: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 spare: 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 timeJust controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime![FYI, there's an audio reading of the poem on the site or via here.]
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