Complete Poems and Plays (23 page)

                   
Jellicle
Cats
come
out
to-night
,

                   
Jellicle
Cats
come
one
come
all:

                  
The
Jellicle
Moon
is
shining
bright
—

                   
Jellicles
come
to
the
Jellicle
Ball
.

Jellicle Cats are black and white,

Jellicle Cats are rather small;

Jellicle Cats are merry and bright,

And pleasant to hear when they caterwaul.

Jellicle Cats have cheerful faces,

Jellicle Cats have bright black eyes;

They like to practise their airs and graces

And wait for the Jellicle Moon to rise.

Jellicle Cats develop slowly,

Jellicle Cats are not too big;

Jellicle Cats are roly-poly,

They know how to dance a gavotte and a jig.

Until the Jellicle Moon appears

They make their toilette and take their repose:

Jellicles wash behind their ears,

Jellicles dry between their toes.

Jellicle Cats are white and black,

Jellicle Cats are of moderate size;

Jellicles jump like a jumping-jack,

Jellicle Cats have moonlit eyes.

They’re quiet enough in the morning hours,

They’re quiet enough in the afternoon‚

Reserving their terpsichorean powers

To dance by the light of the Jellicle Moon.

Jellicle Cats are black and white,

Jellicle Cats (as I said) are small;

If it happens to be a stormy night

They will practise a caper or two in the hall.

If it happens the sun is shining bright

You would say they had nothing to do at all:

They are resting and saving themselves to be right

For the Jellicle Moon and the Jellicle Ball.

Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer were a very notorious couple of cats.

As knockabout clowns, quick-change comedians, tight-rope walkers and

acrobats

They had an extensive reputation. They made their home in Victoria

Grove —

That was merely their centre of operation, for they were incurably given

to rove.

They were very well known in Cornwall Gardens, in Launceston Place

and in Kensington Square —

They had really a little more reputation than a couple of cats can very

well bear.

If the area window was found ajar

And the basement looked like a field of war,

If a tile or two came loose on the roof,

Which presently ceased to be waterproof,

If the drawers were pulled out from the bedroom chests,

And you couldn’t find one of your winter vests,

Or after supper one of the girls

Suddenly missed her Woolworth pearls:

Then the family would say: ‘It’s that horrible cat!

It was Mungojerrie — or Rumpelteazer!’ — And most of the time they

left it at that.

Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer had a very unusual gift of the gab.

They were highly efficient cat-burglars as well, and remarkably smart

at a smash-and-grab.

They made their home in Victoria Grove. They had no regular

occupation.

They were plausible fellows, and liked to engage a friendly policeman

in conversation.

When the family assembled for Sunday dinner,

With their minds made up that they wouldn’t get thinner

On Argentine joint, potatoes and greens,

And the cook would appear from behind the scenes

And say in a voice that was broken with sorrow:

‘I’m afraid you must wait and have dinner
tomorrow
!

For the joint has gone from the oven — like that!’

Then the family would say: ‘It’s that horrible cat!

It was Mungojerrie — or Rumpelteazer!’ — And most of the time they

left it at that.

Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer had a wonderful way of working

together.

And some of the time you would say it was luck, and some of the time

you would say it was weather.

They would go through the house like a hurricane, and no sober person

could take his oath

Was it Mungojerrie — or Rumpelteazer? or could you have sworn that

it mightn’t be both?

And when you heard a dining-room smash

Or up from the pantry there came a loud crash

Or down from the library came a loud
ping

From a vase which was commonly said to be Ming —

Then the family would say: ‘Now which was which cat?

It was Mungojerrie!
AND
Rumpelteazer!’ — And there’s nothing at all

to be done about that!

Old Deuteronomy’s lived a long time;

He’s a Cat who has lived many lives in succession.

He was famous in proverb and famous in rhyme

A long while before Queen Victoria’s accession.

Old Deuteronomy’s buried nine wives

And more — I am tempted to say, ninety-nine;

And his numerous progeny prospers and thrives

And the village is proud of him in his decline.

At the sight of that placid and bland physiognomy,

When he sits in the sun on the vicarage wall,

The Oldest Inhabitant croaks: ‘Well, of all …

Things … Can it be … really! … No! … Yes! …

     Ho! hi!

     Oh, my eye!

My mind may be wandering, but I confess

I
believe
it is Old Deuteronomy!’

Old Deuteronomy sits in the street,

He sits in the High Street on market day;

The bullocks may bellow, the sheep they may bleat,

But the dogs and the herdsmen will turn them away.

The cars and the lorries run over the kerb,

And the villagers put up a notice:
ROAD CLOSED
—

So that nothing untoward may chance to disturb

Deuteronomy’s rest when he feels so disposed

Or when he’s engaged in domestic economy:

And the Oldest Inhabitant croaks: ‘Well, of all …

Things … Can it be … really! … No! … Yes! …

    Ho! hi!

    Oh, my eye!

My sight’s unreliable, but I can guess

That the cause of the trouble is Old Deuteronomy!’

Old Deuteronomy lies on the floor

Of the Fox and French Horn for his afternoon sleep;

And when the men say: ‘There’s just time for one more‚’

Then the landlady from her back parlour will peep

And say: ‘Now then, out you go, by the back door,

For Old Deuteronomy musn’t be woken —

I’ll have the police if there’s any uproar’ —

And out they all shuffle, without a word spoken.

The digestive repose of that feline’s gastronomy

Must never be broken, whatever befall:

And the Oldest Inhabitant croaks: ‘Well, of all …

Things … Can it be … really! … Yes! … No! …

    Ho! hi!

    Oh, my eye!

My legs may be tottery, I must go slow

And be careful of Old Deuteronomy!’

The Pekes and the Pollicles, everyone knows,

Are proud and implacable passionate foes;

It is always the same, wherever one goes.

And the Pugs and the Poms, although most people say

That they do not like fighting, yet once in a way,

Or now and again, they join in to the fray

And they

Bark bark bark bark

Bark bark
BARK BARK

Until you can hear them all over the Park.

Now on the occasion of which I shall speak

Almost nothing had happened for nearly a week

(And that’s a long time for a Pol or a Peke).

The big Police Dog was away from his beat —

I don’t know the reason, but most people think

He’d slipped into the Wellington Arms for a drink —

And no one at all was about on the street

When a Peke and a Pollicle happened to meet.

They did not advance, or exactly retreat,

But they glared at each other, and scraped their hind feet,

And started to

Bark bark bark bark

Bark bark
BARK BARK

Until you could hear them all over the Park.

Now the Peke, although people may say what they please,

Is no British Dog, but a Heathen Chinese.

And so all the Pekes, when they heard the uproar,

Some came to the window, some came to the door;

There were surely a dozen, more likely a score.

And together they started to grumble and wheeze

In their huffery-snuffery Heathen Chinese.

But a terrible din is what Pollicles like,

For your Pollicle Dog is a dour Yorkshire tyke,

And his braw Scottish cousins are snappers and biters,

And every dog-jack of them notable fighters;

And so they stepped out, with their pipers in order,

Playing
When
the
Blue
Bonnets
Came
Over
the
Border.

Then the Pugs and the Poms held no longer aloof,

But some from the balcony, some from the roof,

Joined in

To the din

With a

Bark bark bark bark

Bark bark
BARK BARK

Until you could hear them all over the Park.

Now when these bold heroes together assembled,

The traffic all stopped, and the Underground trembled,

And some of the neighbours were so much afraid

That they started to ring up the Fire Brigade.

When suddenly, up from a small basement flat,

Why who should stalk out but the
GREAT RUMPUSCAT
.

His eyes were like fireballs fearfully blazing,

He gave a great yawn, and his jaws were amazing;

And when he looked out through the bars of the area,

You never saw anything fiercer or hairier.

And what with the glare of his eyes and his yawning,

The Pekes and the Pollicles quickly took warning.

He looked at the sky and he gave a great leap —

And they every last one of them scattered like sheep.

And
w
hen
the
Police
Dog
returned
to
his
beat,

There
wasn’t
a
single
one
left
in
the
street
.