THE BELL
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.