Lyric Poem · Peace

Verses on a Cat

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Reading room

1A cat in distress,

2Nothing more, nor less;

3Good folks, I must faithfully tell ye,

4As I am a sinner,

5It waits for some dinner

6To stuff out its own little belly.

7You would not easily guess

8All the modes of distress

9Which torture the tenants of earth;

10And the various evils,

11Which like so many devils,

12Attend the poor souls from their birth.

13Some a living require,

14And others desire

15An old fellow out of the way;

16And which is the best

17I leave to be guessed,

18For I cannot pretend to say.

19One wants society,

20Another variety,

21Others a tranquil life;

22Some want food,

23Others, as good,

24Only want a wife.

25But this poor little cat

26Only wanted a rat,

27To stuff out its own little maw;

28And it were as good

29SOME people had such food,

30To make them HOLD THEIR JAW!

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“Verses on a Cat” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — quilloak.com/poems/verses-on-a-cat

Quick facts

Poem: Verses on a Cat
Poet: Percy Bysshe Shelley
Length: 30 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Peace

Craft notes

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Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 30 lines · 5 sestets
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Author record: Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822
Source record: PoetryDBVerses on a Cat by percy-bysshe-shelley, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
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Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Peace

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