I am a cat and I am cruel!
But beautiful! My fur
Is soft. I have deep amber eyes
And a most pleasing purr.
I am a plaything for a child
To pinch or squeeze or pull
Or to adore with soft caress,
For I am beautiful.
I am a cat and I am cruel!
The upper Nile knew me,
Roaming and wild. Then hunters came,
I was no longer free.
For Egypt had great granaries,
So came a plague of rats,
They held us sacred like their gods
For Egypt needed cats.
I am a cat. Since Pharaoh’s day
I am what men call tame,
But deep in me the lust for gore
Is lurking just the same.
Stroke me, I purr—my claws relax,
I drowse—but for all that
The murderer in me sleeps not,
Sleeps not, for I’m a cat.
My mistress too is beautiful,
Blue-veined with snowy skin,
She smooths my fur and cuddles me
Close to her dainty chin.
An amorous perfume clings to
Her soft gown’s silken mesh—
I only want to smell her blood
And eat her pretty flesh!
I love to watch the agony
Of some affrighted thing,
Life ebbing scarlet, bit by bit,
Through my slow torturing.
I am a cat—this is my life,
To be a pet until
The age-long urge bestirs my soul
And I go forth to kill.
Through velvet black the paws of me
Touch oh so soft and noiselessly.
The burning amber of my eyes
Pierces the night; the rose-moon dies.
I hear a twitter in the vine,
My throat is parched—it craves red wine.
I lift a foot—and all is well
Until—until—I shake my bell!
For she has tied a bell on me,
A bell—a bell—a bell on me,
A tinkly bell to tell on me,
To tell—to tell—to tell on me;
The bell that foils each move I make,
The bell that tells my prey awake,
The single dingle jingle-bell
The little tittle-tattle bell,
The bell that holds my stroke in check,
The cursed bell around my neck.