| poem by William Butler Yeats
The cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon
For wander and wail as he would
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon might learn
Tired of that courtly fashion
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place
The secret moon overhead
Has taken a new place
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change
And that from round to crescent
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important, and wise
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.
--William Butler Yeats |
 |
On A Night
Of Snow
poem by Elizabeth Coatesworth
Cat, if you go outdoors you must walk in the snow.
You will come back with little white shoes on your feet,
Little slippers of snow that have heels of sleet.
Stay by the fire, My Cat. Lie still, do not go.
See how the flames are leaping and hissing low?
I will bring you a saucer of milk like a marguerite,
So white and so smooth, so spherical and so sweet
Stay with me, Cat. Outdoors the wild winds blow!
Outdoors the wild winds blow, Mistress,
And dark is the night,
And more than cats move, lit by our eyes green light,
On silent feet where the meadow grasses hang hoar.
Mistress, there are portents abroad of Magic and Might,
And things that are yet to be done.
Open the door!
-- Elizabeth Coatesworth |
[The Gallery]