The Puss; The Octo‑pus

Robert Williams Wood (1868–1955) · How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts · 1917

The Octopus or Cuttle‑fish!
I’m sure that none of us would wish
To have him scuttle ’round the house,
Like Puss, when she espies a mouse:
When you secure your house‑hold pet,
Be very sure you do not get
The Octopus, or there may be
Domestic in‑felis‑ity.

Where this text comes from

First published in How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts (1917). First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established. [1]

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Taken from Standard Ebooks, standardebooks/robert-williams-wood_how-to-tell-the-birds-from-the-flowers-and-other-woodcuts, how-to-tell-the-birds-from-the-flowers.xhtml. Rights: public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931).

Earlier sources (3)

This poem as JSON or plain text. Line anchors #L1–#L8.

Cite this poem

Robert Williams Wood (1868–1955). “The Puss; The Octo‑pus.” First published in How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts (1917). Text: Poem Index, https://poemindex.org/robert-williams-wood/the-puss-the-octo-pus/. Append #L14 to cite line 14, or #L4-L9 for lines 4–9.

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