Poem: Macavity - The Mystery Cat

Poem

Macavity - The Mystery Cat

There is always an air of mystery in cats. They appear to see something which we don’t. Macavity is one such elusive, agile and phantom-like cat. Read this humorous lyric poem and find out what happens when he strikes. 

Macavity’s a Mystery Cat: he’s called the Hidden Paw

For he’s the master criminal who can defy the Law.

He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad’s despair:

For when they reach the scene of crime — Macavity’s not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,

He’s broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.

His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,

And when you reach the scene of crime — Macavity’s not there!

You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air —

But I tell you once and once again, Macavity’s not there!

Macavity’s a ginger cat, he’s very tall and thin;

You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.

His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;

His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.

He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;

And when you think he’s half asleep, he’s always wide awake.

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,

For he’s a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.

You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square —

But when a crime’s discovered, then Macavity’s not there!

He’s outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)

And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard’s.

And when the larder’s looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,

Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke’s been stifled,

Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair

Ay, there’s the wonder of the thing! Macavity’s not there!

And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty’s gone astray,

Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,

There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair

But it’s useless to investigate, Macavity’s not there!

And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:

‘It must have been Macavity!’ but he’s a mile away.

You’ll be sure to find him resting, or a licking of his thumbs,

Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,

There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.

He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare:

At whatever time the deed took place, MACAVITY WASN’T THERE!

And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known,

(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)

Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time

Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime.

About the Author

Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888 – 1965) was an essayist, a critic, a playwright and a pioneering poet of the twentieth century. He attended Smith Academy in St. Louis and then the Milton Academy in Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University and then left for France and the Sorbonne to study philosophy. Eliot returned to Harvard and deepened his knowledge by reading Indian philosophy and studying Sanskrit. He also finished his advanced degree at Harvard.

Some of his popular poems include ‘The Wasteland’, ‘Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’, ‘Ash Wednesday’, ‘Four Quartets’, ‘Journey of the Magi’, ‘After Strange Gods’ and ‘Naming of Cats’. T.S. Eliot won the Order of Merit and received the Nobel Prize for Literature in the year 1948.

Warm Up:

A. A French proverb goes thus: ‘The dog may be wonderful prose, but only the cat is poetry.’ You may have observed that all animals possess a number of unique qualities. Fill in the columns with words and phrases associated with each of the following animals.

B. People admire some of these animal qualities. What are they? Have you noticed some of them in yourself or in others? Share your views with the class.