WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.060 align:middle line:84%
The cat, Peter, in
this poem refers

00:00:03.060 --> 00:00:10.080 align:middle line:84%
to my cat, Peter,
who I'm afraid died

00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:13.590 align:middle line:90%
last autumn at the age of 10.

00:00:13.590 --> 00:00:19.680 align:middle line:84%
And I wanted-- I was
rather moved by this.

00:00:19.680 --> 00:00:24.000 align:middle line:84%
Anybody, I imagine, who's kept
a pet will have experienced

00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:27.060 align:middle line:84%
a curious mixture of
emotions that you have

00:00:27.060 --> 00:00:29.880 align:middle line:90%
in reflecting on its death.

00:00:29.880 --> 00:00:32.910 align:middle line:84%
It's possible to feel very, very
intensely, and at the same time

00:00:32.910 --> 00:00:35.010 align:middle line:84%
to worry about
feeling intensely.

00:00:35.010 --> 00:00:38.490 align:middle line:84%
Because you think, well,
after all, it's only a cat.

00:00:38.490 --> 00:00:41.280 align:middle line:84%
I mustn't be
sentimental about it.

00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:44.310 align:middle line:84%
I determined that I had to
write a poem on the theme

00:00:44.310 --> 00:00:45.810 align:middle line:90%
of this cat's death.

00:00:45.810 --> 00:00:49.290 align:middle line:84%
And I struggled a long time
to get the right tone for it.

00:00:49.290 --> 00:00:53.880 align:middle line:84%
And then I was reading
Skelton's Phillip Sparrow

00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:57.330 align:middle line:84%
about a death of
a girl's pet bird,

00:00:57.330 --> 00:00:59.550 align:middle line:84%
and I was very struck
by the immense mixture

00:00:59.550 --> 00:01:03.540 align:middle line:84%
of sort of erudition,
eccentricity, and the macabre

00:01:03.540 --> 00:01:05.220 align:middle line:90%
in that poem.

00:01:05.220 --> 00:01:08.460 align:middle line:84%
And I tried in a miniature
way to do the same thing

00:01:08.460 --> 00:01:10.620 align:middle line:90%
in a poem of mine.

00:01:10.620 --> 00:01:17.010 align:middle line:84%
It's a sort of Gothic poem for
children, I suppose, really.

00:01:17.010 --> 00:01:20.970 align:middle line:84%
And it's called
"To a Slow Drum."

00:01:20.970 --> 00:01:26.460 align:middle line:84%
It really needs to be done, I
think, to an actual drum beat,

00:01:26.460 --> 00:01:29.115 align:middle line:90%
but I'll do it as best I can.

00:01:29.115 --> 00:01:33.540 align:middle line:90%


00:01:33.540 --> 00:01:39.180 align:middle line:84%
Solitary thoughts and burial
mounds begin this dirge,

00:01:39.180 --> 00:01:42.810 align:middle line:90%
and mournful sounds.

00:01:42.810 --> 00:01:46.830 align:middle line:84%
Now to the dead
march troop in twos,

00:01:46.830 --> 00:01:51.960 align:middle line:84%
the granite owls with
their who, was, who's.

00:01:51.960 --> 00:01:56.910 align:middle line:84%
The bat and the grave,
yew bear on his wheels,

00:01:56.910 --> 00:02:02.700 align:middle line:84%
Tuborg the pig with
his hard wood heels.

00:02:02.700 --> 00:02:06.870 align:middle line:84%
Gemmed with a dew
of mourning tears,

00:02:06.870 --> 00:02:11.400 align:middle line:84%
the weeping armadillo
has brought his shears.

00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:18.420 align:middle line:84%
The droop-eared dog and the lion
come, dipping their long waists

00:02:18.420 --> 00:02:21.570 align:middle line:90%
to meet the drum.

00:02:21.570 --> 00:02:26.160 align:middle line:84%
On the bare chafing
dish as each one hears,

00:02:26.160 --> 00:02:31.980 align:middle line:84%
the gray lead pigs
reverse their spears.

00:02:31.980 --> 00:02:37.970 align:middle line:84%
Grooved in line they show
no grief, grouped above us

00:02:37.970 --> 00:02:40.500 align:middle line:90%
here in yellow leaf.

00:02:40.500 --> 00:02:43.170 align:middle line:84%
A tree's life blown
through a crack

00:02:43.170 --> 00:02:50.970 align:middle line:84%
in the door over the
red black kitchen floor.

00:02:50.970 --> 00:02:58.650 align:middle line:84%
A solitary spider stalks to
his place, all eight legs wet

00:02:58.650 --> 00:03:00.970 align:middle line:90%
from the waist.

00:03:00.970 --> 00:03:08.070 align:middle line:84%
He climbed up the drain
to be here on time, now

00:03:08.070 --> 00:03:11.550 align:middle line:90%
to the slow egg timer's chime.

00:03:11.550 --> 00:03:18.090 align:middle line:84%
Shiny in state come things
from the grime, tiny slaters

00:03:18.090 --> 00:03:20.430 align:middle line:90%
with wings and hoods.

00:03:20.430 --> 00:03:25.080 align:middle line:84%
Beetles from the closet
under the stairs,

00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:29.336 align:middle line:84%
gashed with sorrow
each fixed eye stares.

00:03:29.336 --> 00:03:31.950 align:middle line:90%


00:03:31.950 --> 00:03:36.060 align:middle line:84%
Fairbanks crawls from
his winter leaves,

00:03:36.060 --> 00:03:40.960 align:middle line:84%
he rubs his eyes on
his prickling sleeves.

00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:45.390 align:middle line:84%
Rattling his plate
for a sad sound,

00:03:45.390 --> 00:03:49.350 align:middle line:84%
his black legs cover
the chill ground.

00:03:49.350 --> 00:03:56.820 align:middle line:84%
At a fair speed he
creeps to our knees.

00:03:56.820 --> 00:04:01.140 align:middle line:84%
Now the hall resounds
to the tread of toes,

00:04:01.140 --> 00:04:06.750 align:middle line:84%
as each one gathers
and the crowd grows.

00:04:06.750 --> 00:04:12.240 align:middle line:84%
Broken spirit at the
bears upstairs, troop

00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:16.769 align:middle line:84%
to the banisters and
droop their ears.

00:04:16.769 --> 00:04:22.620 align:middle line:84%
The brown one squats,
glum cheeks in his paws,

00:04:22.620 --> 00:04:26.730 align:middle line:84%
the blue one strums
a melancholy string.

00:04:26.730 --> 00:04:29.310 align:middle line:90%


00:04:29.310 --> 00:04:35.250 align:middle line:84%
From all feasts of fish
he wove good fur, alas,

00:04:35.250 --> 00:04:40.980 align:middle line:90%
no fish stale death can deter.

00:04:40.980 --> 00:04:47.460 align:middle line:84%
As the drum beats the long
cortege winds to the attic,

00:04:47.460 --> 00:04:50.040 align:middle line:90%
as towards the stage.

00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:56.280 align:middle line:84%
Some hop and skip, some
crawl or run, the sad music

00:04:56.280 --> 00:04:59.010 align:middle line:90%
holds everyone.

00:04:59.010 --> 00:05:07.230 align:middle line:84%
Crouched by the window, all
weep to view Peter, poor, Peter,

00:05:07.230 --> 00:05:11.500 align:middle line:90%
drift up the flue.

00:05:11.500 --> 00:05:15.720 align:middle line:84%
Now all together
they chant his dirge,

00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:19.100 align:middle line:84%
grouped by the ledge
where the chimneys merge.

00:05:19.100 --> 00:05:21.860 align:middle line:90%


00:05:21.860 --> 00:05:27.920 align:middle line:84%
Peter, salt Peter,
fish-eating cat,

00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:32.780 align:middle line:84%
feared by the blackbird,
stung by the gnat.

00:05:32.780 --> 00:05:38.060 align:middle line:84%
Wooden spider collector,
lean as a rat,

00:05:38.060 --> 00:05:45.080 align:middle line:84%
soon you shall fall
to a fine gray fat.

00:05:45.080 --> 00:05:50.050 align:middle line:84%
Peter, salt Peter,
drift into the wind.

00:05:50.050 --> 00:05:55.070 align:middle line:84%
Enter the water where
all have sinned.

00:05:55.070 --> 00:06:00.290 align:middle line:84%
Forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive yours.

00:06:00.290 --> 00:06:07.310 align:middle line:84%
Remember us in heaven as clean
scales and furs, as we you

00:06:07.310 --> 00:06:13.760 align:middle line:84%
on Earth here when
any cat purrs.

00:06:13.760 --> 00:06:19.250 align:middle line:84%
Peter, salt Peter,
farewell and live,

00:06:19.250 --> 00:06:25.610 align:middle line:84%
as we do, remembering,
and so, forgive.

00:06:25.610 --> 00:06:34.910 align:middle line:84%
Over the whole world a sad pall
falls, fur into fine air, bone

00:06:34.910 --> 00:06:36.770 align:middle line:90%
into ash.

00:06:36.770 --> 00:06:42.890 align:middle line:90%
A chill water wets every lash.

00:06:42.890 --> 00:06:48.230 align:middle line:84%
Peter, salt Peter,
by pleurisy slain,

00:06:48.230 --> 00:06:53.630 align:middle line:84%
the pale glass weeps
in its wooden pane.

00:06:53.630 --> 00:06:59.840 align:middle line:84%
Come to the cat flap
and slap in again.

00:06:59.840 --> 00:07:06.920 align:middle line:84%
Peter, salt Peter, the bird
of death, aboding raven,

00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:11.450 align:middle line:90%
chokes off my breath.

00:07:11.450 --> 00:07:19.670 align:middle line:84%
Along the warm tears and
doleful words, and this dirge,

00:07:19.670 --> 00:07:23.290 align:middle line:90%
and the screams of birds.

00:07:23.290 --> 00:07:33.000 align:middle line:90%