I remember reading a poem many years ago in school about a little boy left at home alone with the family cat and the boy ends up torturing the cat and killing it. The cat comes back to haunt him.
I vaguely remember that the author might have been John Betjeman and the poem may have been called “Guilt” or something.
I have googled and googled and googled but I can’t find it.
Someone please help.
Thanks in advance !
I googled for poetry boy cat guilt
Could it be Sensibility by Robert Service?
Once, when a boy, I killed a cat.
I guess it’s just because of that
A cat evokes my tenderness,
And takes so kindly my caress.
…
For look you - after three-score years
I see with anguish nigh to tears
That starveling cat so sudden still
I set my terrier to to kill.
Great, golden memories pale away,
But that unto my dying day
Will haunt and haunt me horribly. …
Actually, the above poem doesn’t seem to fit your description. The best I can offer is a bibliography, which might help you find individual volumes so you can scan the indexes. Your best bet might be to write to the organization I’ve linked, or to find a volume of complete works, if they exist.
No that’s not the one. This was a very subtle, creepy poem.
I have searched every John Betjeman site I could find on the web and now I am not even sure it was him.
I like your idea of writing to the owners of that site. I’ll give it a try.
Thanks.
And if that doesn’t work, you might try asking on some of the Usenet newsgroups like rec.arts.poetry or rec.arts.poems or alt.arts.poetry.comments. Good luck.
Found it. Not Betjeman at all (as the man from johnbetjeman.com kindly explained).
In case any one is interested, it is A Case of Murder by Vernon Scannell.
You can read it here.
http://oldpoetry.com/poetry/20654
It’s every bit as gruesome as I remembered.