from BEOCAT by the Old English epic's Unknown Author's Cat
(Modern English verse translation by the Editor's Cat)
From 'Poetry for Cats' by Henry Beard, London: HarperCollins, 1995
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,------ whiskered paw-wielder,
Bearer of the burnished neck-belt,------ gold-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 spake the mouse-shredder, ------ hunter of hall-pests,
Short-haired Hrodent-slayer,------ greatest of the pussy-Geats.