THE BELL
I ama cat and I am cruel!But beautiful! My furIs soft. I have deep amber eyesAnd a most pleasing purr.I am a plaything for a childTo pinch or squeeze or pullOr 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 godsFor Egypt needed cats.I am a cat. Since Pharaoh’s dayI am what men call tame,But deep in me the lust for goreIs lurking just the same.Stroke me, I purr—my claws relax,I drowse—but for all thatThe 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 meClose to her dainty chin.An amorous perfume clings toHer soft gown’s silken mesh—I only want to smell her bloodAnd eat her pretty flesh!I love to watch the agonyOf 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 untilThe age-long urge bestirs my soulAnd I go forth to kill.Through velvet black the paws of meTouch oh so soft and noiselessly.The burning amber of my eyesPierces 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 wellUntil—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-bellThe little tittle-tattle bell,The bell that holds my stroke in check,The cursed bell around my neck.
I ama cat and I am cruel!But beautiful! My furIs soft. I have deep amber eyesAnd a most pleasing purr.I am a plaything for a childTo pinch or squeeze or pullOr 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 godsFor Egypt needed cats.I am a cat. Since Pharaoh’s dayI am what men call tame,But deep in me the lust for goreIs lurking just the same.Stroke me, I purr—my claws relax,I drowse—but for all thatThe 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 meClose to her dainty chin.An amorous perfume clings toHer soft gown’s silken mesh—I only want to smell her bloodAnd eat her pretty flesh!I love to watch the agonyOf 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 untilThe age-long urge bestirs my soulAnd I go forth to kill.Through velvet black the paws of meTouch oh so soft and noiselessly.The burning amber of my eyesPierces 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 wellUntil—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-bellThe little tittle-tattle bell,The bell that holds my stroke in check,The cursed bell around my neck.
I ama cat and I am cruel!But beautiful! My furIs soft. I have deep amber eyesAnd a most pleasing purr.I am a plaything for a childTo pinch or squeeze or pullOr 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 godsFor Egypt needed cats.
I am a cat. Since Pharaoh’s dayI am what men call tame,But deep in me the lust for goreIs lurking just the same.Stroke me, I purr—my claws relax,I drowse—but for all thatThe 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 meClose to her dainty chin.An amorous perfume clings toHer soft gown’s silken mesh—I only want to smell her bloodAnd eat her pretty flesh!
I love to watch the agonyOf 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 untilThe age-long urge bestirs my soulAnd I go forth to kill.
Through velvet black the paws of meTouch oh so soft and noiselessly.The burning amber of my eyesPierces 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 wellUntil—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-bellThe little tittle-tattle bell,The bell that holds my stroke in check,The cursed bell around my neck.