The Best of Archy and Mehitabel by Don Marquis Page B

wallowing in depression
    and this is in spite of the terrible fact
    i am not a real home body
    but an artiste who views the domestic career
    as damnably dull and shoddy
    for i am a lady who has her whims
    no tom cat holds my love
    if i come to feel i have plighted my troth
    to a little mauve turtle dove
    but at last i have found my real romance
    through the process of trial and error
    and he is a ribald brute named bill
    one eyed and a holy terror
    his skull is ditched from a hundred fights
    and he has little hair on his tail
    but the son of a gun of a brindled hun
    is indubitably male
    over the fences we frolic and prance
    under the blood red moon
    and sing to the stars we are venus and mars
    as we caper and clutch and croon
    his good eye gleams like a coal of hell
    from the murk of alley or yard
    and the heart that jumps in the cage of his ribs
    is hot and black and hard
    says he as we rocket over the roofs
    can you follow your limber bill
    says i to him my demon slim
    theres a dance in the old dame still
    you pussies that purr on a persian rug
    or mew to some fool for cream
    little you know of the wild delight
    of the outlaws midnight dream
    a fish head filched from a garbage can
    or a milk bottle raided at dawn
    is better than safety and slavery
    you punks that cuddle and fawn
    you can stuff your bellies with oysters and shrimp
    you may have your ribbon and bell
    for bill and me it is liberty
    o wotthehell bill wotthehell
    says he to me old battle axe
    you never was raised a pet
    says i to willie i aint any lily
    but theres pep in the old dame yet
    last night when a bull pup gave us chase
    bill turned and a rip of his claw
    completely unseamed that slavering mutt
    from his chin to his bloody jaw
    we dance with the breeze of the summer nights
    we dance with the winter sleet
    with velvet paws on the velvet shadows
    or whirl with frozen feet
    we riot over the roof of the world
    mehitabel and bill
    you son of a gun of a brindled hun
    theres a dance in the old dame still

mehitabel pulls a party
    dear boss mehitabel shows
    no evidences of reform
    she flung a party in shinbone alley
    last night and six of the toughest
    tabbies i ever saw were her guests
    all seven of them danced on the ash cans
    flirting their tails in the moonlight
    and chanting as follows

    she flung a party in shinbone alley
    oh wotthell do we care
    if we are down and out
    theres a dance or two in the old janes yet
    so caper and swing about
    up and down the alley
    through and over the fence
    for still we are attractive
    to various feline gents
    meow meow meow
    now then sadie dont talk shady
    try and remember you and myrtie
    that you was raised a lady
    that goes for you too gertie
    oh i was chased down broadway
    by a tom with a ribbon and bell
    i says to him my limber jim
    you seem to know me well
    says he to me oh can it be
    you are mehitabel
    oh wotthell girls wotthell
    as long as the gents is for us
    we still got a job in the chorus
    we aint no maltese flappers
    we all seen better days
    but we got as much it
    as an ingenue kit
    and it is the art that pays
    meow meow meow
    arch your back and caper
    and kick at the golden moon
    mebby some yeggs
    who sell butter and eggs
    will fling us a party soon
    now then gertie dont get dirty
    frankie frankie dont get cranky
    and call any lowlife names
    remember that you and your sister
    were once society dames
    and me and nance was debutants
    before we was abducted
    remember pearl that you was a girl
    that a college went and instructed
    dont chew the fat with no common cat
    for you still got an honored place
    oh climb the fence and caper
    and kick the moon in the face
    oh mebby we all are busted
    oh mebby the winters are chill
    but all of us girls seen better days
    and we are ladies still
    remember nell you was once a swell
    you was raised a social pet
    be careful sweet and act discreet
    you may have come down in the world my dear
    and you got a cauliflower
    onto your ear
    but you are a lady yet
    meow meow meow
    oh