sootyj
Friday 27th November 2015 8:57pm
51,287 posts
The Cat Journeys to the Underworld
Three fat cats in the kitchen sink
One bends over to take a drink
the others pushed him down into the drain
he fell forever but felt no pain.
He rolled to the feet of the Underlord
Whose head was bound with a silver cord
"It's a shame, dear cat, but there's nothing to do
You're stuck down here till we're through with you.
"The demons of the dark and the Hounds of Hell
Will pull off your face and take your tail.
They'll take your black fur and your soft white paws,
your sharp front fangs and your powerful jaws,
They'll grind your bones down to tiny rocks,
then toss all your parts into a box.
They'll breathe inside and shake it well
Then sew you back together at the gates of Hell
Then you'll stand up tall on your two hind legs
with velvet skin and eyes like the day
Your fangs and your fur will have crumbled to dust
and you won't want to walk, but walk you must.
With your whiskers gone and your new hands strong,
you'll stroll back up to where you were wronged;
head on over to the kitchen sink --
I suggest you don't give them time to think."
So in came the demons and the Hounds of Hell
They cut him up and did it well
He was shaken in the box and emerged whole
He had a new shape but the same cat soul.
He traveled back up through the Underworld
and walked right into to the sacred grove.
He emerged from the woods as a prophet of beasts
Drew all the honey from the hives of bees.
The mice and the shrews peeked beneath the plants
and from the earth blazed a stream of ants.
The sparrows and the falcons swooped down to see
And the bobcats crept up to his knee.
He charmed all the foxes out of their dens
then they all went in to the city of men.
Vines grew down from his eyes to his knees
but only the beasts saw this Jack of the Green.
Into the kitchen, right to the sink,
to the two fat cats vying for a drink.
Surrounded by the foxes and the hum of bees
he towered over his foes and said his piece.
They stared right back with unblinking eyes,
licked their paws, groomed their lies.
He thought about sending them down the drain
but figured he had very little to gain
He went back into the forest and the sacred grove
and dug out a home with the deer and the toads.
With mud on his face and green in his teeth,
He knew he had little cause to leave.
The cicadas and the frogs made music so clear,
the kind he'd never had the chance to hear.
He danced upright on his two hind legs
And that is how he lived out his days.
Do treacherous cats prosper? I think not.
The very next day brought a threatening dog.
He chased the cats right out of the house,
the lazy things couldn't even catch a mouse.
They grew so thin that the light shone through
they had plenty of time to think of what they'd do
if they had the chance to change their deeds-
woe to the foes of Jack of the Green.