From The Factory Songs of Mr. Toad, Detroit: Bewick/ed., 1994
Downloaded with thanks from the Red & Black Notes Website.
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
A most practical cat.
Walking silently on padded feet
Unseen, unheard
Power concentrated
in a compact body
Lean, lithe, less
in appearance
Than the explosive leap,
periodic culmination
of growing power
of growing hunger
Amber, black, mottled, gold.
All colors help to hide
its invisible path
Slowly it climbs and waits
on limb
on cliff
on overhang
All right, Buddy
Let’s not get romantic.
Shut her down and let’s go