mehitabel the cat is still missing
idle thought
by Don Marquis
paris september
fifth nineteen
twenty three
what i like
about this place
is that it is
such a nice
place to loaf in
and loafing
is the best thing
in life
nature shows
us that
a caterpillar
just eats and
loafs and sleeps
and after a while
without any effort
it turns into
a butterfly
with nothing to do
but flit around
and be beautiful
but consider
the industrious
tumble bug
the tumble bug
toils and plants
and sweats
and worries
pushing its burden
up hill forever
like sisyphus
and pretty soon
some one
comes along
and thinks how
vulgar and ugly
the thing is
and steps on it
and squashes it
idleness
and beauty
are their own
rewards
mehitabel the cat
is still missing
more on archy's origins here.
[via Sarah, who got it via Rebecca, who got it from Archyology: the long lost tales of archy and mehitabel and may also have idly channeled my dad somehow, but probably not]
posted by lisa schamess @ 08:11
3 Comments:
Very nice. AND so true.
Rebecca got it via yours truly, your mutual mother-in-law, who found the link on archy and sent it to her, having realized with dismay after talking to rebecca that she had no idea that archy was a cockroach and mehitabel the cat was his friend. Mother-in-law also promptly got nostalgic for the old musical, Archy and Mehitabel, starring Carol Channing, for which the lyrics were written by Joe Darion, who was a friend and sometime collaborator of Mona's great-grandfather Hecky in the field of children's recordings. So mom-in-law went back online to Barnes and Noble and found a CD of the musical, which you shall hear when you come to visit in W'burg.
Clarification: poem was posted originally by Rebecca, who I believe originally heard it on Garrison Keillor's Writers Almanac. Explanatory link about archyology was sent to her by mother-in-law. Credit given where credit is due!
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