Advertisement
Not a member of Pastebin yet?
Sign Up,
it unlocks many cool features!
- The Naming of Cats
- T. S. Eliot - 1888-1965
- The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
- It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
- You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
- When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
- First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
- Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo, or James,
- Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey—
- All of them sensible everyday names.
- There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
- Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
- Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter—
- But all of them sensible everyday names,
- But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
- A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
- Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
- Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
- Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
- Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
- Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum—
- Names that never belong to more than one cat.
- But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
- And that is the name that you never will guess;
- The name that no human research can discover—
- But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
- When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
- The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
- His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
- Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
- His ineffable effable
- Effanineffable
- Deep and inscrutable singular name.
Advertisement
Add Comment
Please, Sign In to add comment
Advertisement