Scaredycat

by Lesley Smith

Puss

I Jenny the cat was a-feared For the noise of the traffic she heared Wasn’t used to the humming the strumming the voom Nor the neighbour-next-door’s long grey beard

II Jenny the cat wanted peace The occasional cream and fish feast She hated the drumming ear-numbing ka-boom Of Green Lane’s great fume-belching beast

III Jenny the cat slunk upstairs Not a thought for the teddies & bears Who’s bed she’d be sharing with her fur and her fleas Not a thought for their feelings she spared IV Jenny the cat in under Her mistress’s blanket & blunder Didn’t mind all the books All the clutter and smells Needing only respite from the thunder

V Jenny the cat hid in darkness Choked by her new linen harness Freedom lost by the tangle and tether of sheets Which for her was but anything harmless

PU N RE WOEW OL

VI Jenny the cat cried and clawed On new woollen covers she gnawed For the need of escape from this dreadful new threat Could most certainly not be ignored

VII Jenny the cat finally made it From her prison of cloth extricated Freed herself from the mess of the ribbons and threads Her nerves now unfairly were grated VII Jenny the cat was uncertain Should she hide behind table or curtain? Where is safest from fear from the wail and the stench? Her questioning now was a burden

IX Jenny the cat swished her tail Her miaow was a pitiful wail She’d run out of spots for concealing her fears Of the thunderously threatening gale. X Jenny the cat sought a cupboard Something like Old Mother Hubbard’s Empty of things such as toys, boots, umbrellas A place where she wouldn’t be smothered

XI Jenny the cat couldn’t stand it The storm fired off like a bandit Lightning split through the sky Struck the house with a crack She felt sure that the aliens had landed XII Jenny the cat shook with fright It had been a most terrible night Humans and nature conspired against her And now came a strange ghostly sight

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XIII Jenny the cat then went pale The colour of sweet ginger ale What she saw was a spectre Of canine proportions Hairy, horrid and male XIV Jenny the cat raised her hackles Cast off all of her previous shackles With a growl, his and spit She clawed at the air Her foes she attempted to tackle

XV Jenny the cat was a wreck Her collar slipped right off her neck As she leaped over, under, Round corners, ‘neath beds In a faint she fell spent on the deck