London Tom-Cat

By Michael Hamburger

Look at the gentle savage, monstrous gentleman

With jungles in his heart, yet metropolitan

As we shall never be; who- while his human hosts,

Afraid of their own past and it's primaeval ghosts,

Pile up great walls for comfort - walks coquettishly

Through their elaborate cares, sure of himself and free

To be like them, domesticated, or aloof!

A dandy in the room, a demon on the roof,
He's delicately tough, endearingly reserved,
Adaptable, fastidious, rope-and-fibre-nerved.

Now an accomplished Yogi good at sitting still
He ponders ancient mysteries on the window-sill,
Now stretches, bares his claws and saunters off to find
the thrills of love and hunting, cunningly combined.
Acrobat, diplomat, and simple tabby cat,
He conjures tangled forests in a furnished flat.