English Literature

Beocat

Brave Beocat,    brood-kit of Ecgthmeow,
Hearth-pet of Hrothgar    in whose high halls
He mauled without mercy    many fat mice,
Night did not find napping    nor snack-feasting.
The wary war-cat,    whiskers paw-wielder,
Bearer of the burnished neck-belt,    bold-braided collar band,
Feller of fleas    fatal, too, to ticks,
The work of wonder-smiths,    woven with witches' charms,
Sat on the throne-seat    his ears like sword-points
Upraised, sharp-tipped,    listening for peril-sounds,
When he heard from the moor-hill    howls of the hell-hound,
Gruesome hunger-grunts    of Grendel's Great Dane,
Deadly doom-mutt,    dread demon-dog.
Then boasted Beocat,    noble battle-kitten,
Bane of barrow-bunnies,    bold seeker of nest-booty;
"If hand of man unhasped    the heavy hall-door
And freed me to frolic forth    to fight the fang-bearing fiend,
I would lay the whelpling low    with lethal claw-blows;
Fur would fly    and the foe would taste death-food.
But resounding snooze-noise, stern slumber-thunder,
Nose-music of men snoring    mead-hammered in the wine-hall,
Fills me with sorrow-feeling    for Fate does not see fit
To send some fingered folk    to lift the firm-fastened latch
That I might go grapple    with the grim ghoul-pooch."
Thus spoke the mouse-shredder,    hunter of hall-pests,
Short-haired Hrodent-slayer,    greatest of the pussy-Geats.

---Henry Beard