Jacques Prévert | The cat and the bird

The village listened miserably To the wounded bird’s cries It was the only bird in the village And it was the only cat in the village That had half-eaten him And the bird stopped singing The cat stopped purring And licking his lips And the village gave the bird A marvellous funeral And the cat who had been invited Walked behind the little straw coffin Where the dead bird was laid out Carried by a pretty young girl Who couldn’t stop crying The cat said to her If I’d known how unhappy this would make you I’d have eaten all of him And then told you That I’d seen him fly away To the very ends of the earth Too far away to ever return And you wouldn’t be so distraught So distressed and full of sorrow Now I see that one should never Do things by half-measures