> Douglas thanks read it to Vileboris he slunk under sofa with his catmint
bag
> all -depressed P

You ought to be ashamed of yourself, vile and aged zimmer frame abuser,
inflicting such suffering on so Noble a Prince of Cats as the Vile Boris.
Go on like that, and they'll confiscate your bus pass.

Do tell Borischinov that if he finally gets (justly) incensed with you, he
will be welcome to move in here and shred any or all of my furniture with
his educated claws.

Meanwhile, to cheer him out of his depression, perhaps he might like to meet
Mehitabel.

(More don marquis pomes here: http://www.donmarquis.com/archy/index.html )

                The Stoned Dormouse


the song of mehitabel
By Don Marquis, in "archy and mehitabel," 1927

  this is the song of mehitabel
  of mehitabel the alley cat
  as i wrote you before boss
  mehitabel is a believer
  in the pythagorean
  theory of the transmigration
  of the soul and she claims
  that formerly her spirit
  was incarnated in the body
  of cleopatra
  that was a long time ago
  and one must not be
  surprised if mehitabel
  has forgotten some of her
  more regal manners

  i have had my ups and downs
  but wotthehell wotthehell
  yesterday sceptres and crowns
  fried oysters and velvet gowns
  and today i herd with bums
  but wotthehell wotthehell
  i wake the world from sleep
  as i caper and sing and leap
  when i sing my wild free tune
  wotthehell wotthehell
  under the blear eyed moon
  i am pelted with cast off shoon
  but wotthehell wotthehell

  do you think that i would change
  my present freedom to range
  for a castle or moated grange
  wotthehell wotthehell
  cage me and i d go frantic
  my life is so romantic
  capricious and corybantic
  and i m toujours gai toujours gai

  i know that i am bound
  for a journey down the sound
  in the midst of a refuse mound
  but wotthehell wotthehell
  oh i should worry and fret
  death and i will coquette
  there s a dance in the old dame yet
  toujours gai toujours gai

  i once was an innocent kit
  wotthehell wotthehell
  with a ribbon my neck to fit
  and bells tied onto it
  o wotthehell wotthehell
  but a maltese cat came by
  with a come hither look in his eye
  and a song that soared to the sky
  and wotthehell wotthehell
  and i followed adown the street
  the pad of his rhythmical feet
  o permit me again to repeat
  wotthehell wotthehell

  my youth i shall never forget
  but there s nothing i really regret
  wotthehell wotthehell
  there s a dance in the old dame yet
  toujours gai toujours gai

  the things that i had not ought to
  i do because i ve gotto
  wotthehell wotthehell
  and i end with my favorite motto
  toujours gai toujours gai

  boss sometimes i think
  that our friend mehitabel
  is a trifle too gay