As you may have guessed I am very fond of cats and often go searching for stories or poems about cats. I found this one today and thought it just a wee bit different.
FIVE LITTLE EYES ... by Walter (John) De La Mare (1873-1956)
In Han's old mill his three black cats
Watch his bins for the thieving rats.
Whisker and claw, they crouch in the night
Their five eyes smouldering, green and bright.
Squeaks from the flour sacks, squeaks from where
The cold wind stirs the empty stair,
Squeaking and scampering, everywhere.
Then down they pounce, now in, now out.
At whisking tail, and sniffing snout.
While lean old Hans he snores away
Till peep of light at break of day.
Then up he climbs to his creaking mill.
Out come his cats, all grey with meal;
Jekkel and Jessup, and one-eyed Jill.
That's cute, you can almost see it.
ReplyDeleteYes, I thought that too...so real.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteOh Mimisie - we studied this one at school!!! WdelM is one of my fave poets and we had to analyse this one for our O-levels (in terms of social history, I seem to recall... I detested that poetry was pulled apart that way!!!) Thank you for bringing it back to memory. YAM xx
A new one for me and I loved it. I too like to enjoy poetry for what it is and not try to dig into the poet's mind to find out what he had in mind or how he was feeling when he wrote a particular poem.
DeleteI am pleased this poem rekindled it in your memory. xx
.. great poem, Mimsie.... One of my childhood favourites.. thanks for sharing .... Barb xxxx
ReplyDeleteAs I was at school in the 1940s we maybe did different poetry as I'd never come across this one.
DeleteI really enjoyed it...seemed larger than life to me. xxx
I've never heard this one, love the names of the cats.
ReplyDeleteAh a new one to you and yes, the names of the cats are really great.
DeleteI've always liked this poem - and I love cats, too.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed it and not heard it before. I too am a cat lover so all cat poems or stories are enjoyable to me as long as they are not too sad.
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