The Cat we all greet as he walks down the street

He's the Cat we all greet as he walks down the street

In his coat of fastidious black:

No commonplace mousers have such well-cut trousers

Or such an impeccable back.

Bustopher Jones: The Cat about Town

Old Possum's Book of Pratical Cats - T. S. Eliot

The Theatre's certainly not what it was

Then, if someone will give him a toothful of gin,

He will tell how he once played a part in East Lynne.

At a Shakespeare performance he once walked on pat,

When some actor suggested the need for a cat.

He once played a Tiger - could do it again - 

Which an Indian Colonel pursued down a drain,

Produce blood-curdling noises to bring on the Ghost.

And he once crossed the stage on a telegraph wire,

To rescue a child when a house was on fire.

And he says: "Now, these kittens, they do not get trained

As we did in the days when Victoria reigned.

They never get drilled in a regular troupe,

And they think they are smart, just to jump through a hoop."

And he'll say, as he scratches himself with his claws,

"Well, the Theatre's certainly not what it was.

These modern productions are all very well,

But there's nothing to equal, from what I hear tell,

That moment of mistery

When I made history

As Firefrorefiddle, the Fiend of the Fell."

Gus: The Theatre Cat

Old Possum's Book of Pratical Cats - T. S. Eliot

A voice that would soften the hardest of hearts

I'd a voice that would soften the hardest of hearts,

Whether I took the lead, or in character parts.

Gus: The Theatre Cat

Old Possum's Book of Pratical Cats - T. S. Eliot

A versão em inglês, a original, é de facto única e intraduzível

A edição que estou a ler de Old Possum's Book of Pratical Cats é bilingue, mas tenho preferido ler as páginas onde consta a versão original dos poemas e são deles os excertos que tenho partilhado aqui.

Apesar do excelente trabalho do tradutor que os traduziu para português, creio que é impossível traduzir a musicalidade, o ritmo, a cadência divertida das palavras que saltitam em cada verso.

A versão em inglês, a original, é de facto única e intraduzível.

With an hour of rehearsal, I never could fail

"I have played", so he says, "every possible part,

And I used to know seventy speeches by heart.

I'd extemporize back-chat, I knew how to gag,

And I knew how to let the cat out of the bag.

I knew how to act with my back and my tail;

With an hour of rehearsal, I never could fail".

Gus: The Theatre Cat

Old Possum's Book of Pratical Cats - T. S. Eliot

The Gallery once gave him seven cat-calls

And he likes to relate his success on the Halls,

Where the Gallery once gave him seven cat-calls.

Gus: The Theatre Cat

Old Possum's Book of Pratical Cats - T. S. Eliot

The Cat at the Theatre Door

Gus is the Cat at the Theatre Door.

His name, as I ought to have told you before,

Is really Asparagus. That's such a fuss

To pronounce, that we usually call him just Gus.

Gus: The Theatre Cat

Old Possum's Book of Pratical Cats - T. S. Eliot

A Cat so clever as Magical Mr. Mistoffelees

Miss X @ Instagram

Ilustração de Nicolas Bentley

And we all said: OH!

Well I never!

Did you ever

Know a Cat so clever

As Magical Mr. Mistoffelees!

Mr. Mistoffelees

Old Possum's Book of Pratical Cats - T. S. Eliot