---
title: From the Point of View of a Cat
tags:
  - authorship/other
  - exclude-from-word-count
  - status/complete
  - type/media/poetry
up: "[[poetry]]"
author: Karel Čapek
booktitle: "Intimate Things: Stories from Everyday Life"
language: English
origlanguage: Czech
translator: Dora Round
type: incollection
year: 1935

---
# From the Point of View of a Cat

This is my Man. I am not afraid of him. \
He is very strong, for he eats a great deal; \
he is an Eater of All Things. \
What are you eating? Give me some!

He is not beautiful, for he has no fur. \
Not having enough saliva, he has to wash himself with water. \
He meows in a harsh voice and a great deal more than necessary. \
Sometimes in his sleep he purrs.

Let me out!

I don't know how he has made himself Master; \
perhaps he has eaten something sublime.

He keeps my rooms clean for me.

In his paws he carries a sharp black claw \
and he scratches with it on white sheets of paper. \
That is the only game he plays. \
He sleeps at night instead of by day, \
he cannot see in the dark, \
he has no pleasures. \
He never thinks of blood, never dreams of hunting or fighting; \
he never sings songs of love.

Often at night when _I_ can hear mysterious and magic voices, \
when _I_ can see that the darkness is all alive, \
_he_ sits at the table with his head bent and goes on and on, \
scratching with his black claw on the white papers. \
Don't imagine that I am at all interested in you. \
I am only listening to the soft whispering of your claw. \
Sometimes the whispering is silent, \
the poor dull head does not know how to go on playing, \
and then I am sorry for him and I meow softly in sweet and sharp discord. \
Then my Man picks me up and buries his hot face in my fur. \
At those times he divines for an instant a glimpse of a higher life, \
and he sighs with happiness and purrs something which can almost be understood.

But don't think that I am at all interested in you. \
You have warmed me, and now I will go out again and listen to the dark voices.