CLXXIX - The Search

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You will have heard of Edward Lear's poem "The Owl and the Pussycat".

He didn't tell the full story.


The Search for the Owl and the Pussycat

The Owl and the Pussycat went for a sail
In a beautiful pea-green boat.
It started to hail and to blow a gale
So Owl covered Cat with his coat.
His coat,
So Owl covered Cat with his coat.


The storm grew worse, grimmer by the minute;
From side to side, the small boat tossed,
And the bedraggled pair tossed within it.
“Pussy”, said Owl, “I think we're lost.
We're lost,
“I think we are quite lost."


At this the Pussy let out a howl,
A noise that would curdle cream,
“Tell me owl, you intelligent fowl,
What type of ‘lost’ do you mean?
Do you mean,
What type of ‘lost’ do you mean?”


Are you saying we’re just a little bit out,
That we aren’t where previously assumed?
It’s a better answer, without any doubt,
Than the other, which means that we’re doomed.
We're doomed,
Than the other, which means that we’re doomed.


Back at shore, the alarm went out
That the seafaring two were missing.
They launched a craft, with a frog and a calf
And a limpet, fond of French kissing.
French kissing,
And a limpet, fond of French kissing.


The frog adopted the pose on the prow
Of someone surveying the skyline.
The calf faced backwards and stared to row
While the limpet had found some dry wine.
Dry wine,
While the limpet had found some dry wine.


The owl looked shocked, his eyes agog,
As the trio arrived, full throttle:
There was an exhausted calf, a Napoleon Frog,
And a limpet, who was stuck to a bottle.
A bottle,
And a limpet, who was stuck to a bottle.


And so they returned to whence they had come
All bedraggled and looking a mess.
The Pussy decided to go home to her Mum
And left the Owl to deal with the Press.
The press,
And left the Owl to deal with the Press.


The cameras flashed as the Owl told his tale,
And retelling, it never got shorter.
From the back of the boat came a muffled wail
As the limpet threw up in the water
The water,
As the limpet threw up in the water.

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© J Cosmo Newbery
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