The Cat Piano

00:00:21 Long ago my city’s luminous heart, beat with the song of four thousand cats.

00:00:34 Buskers with open-mouthed hats hungry for a feed.

00:00:45 Strays strummed string and sung a cocktail of cat’s tails.

00:01:03 Amongst the chorale ‘o tuneful ones was one fair queen who drew me from o’er the way.

00:01:22 Blind with love at first sight, touched by the taste of her sound

00:01:40 Or so it seemed.

00:01:56 Into thin air they disappeared without a single cry.

00:02:12 Torn from your history books is this pianola, This harpsichord of harm.

00:02:28 Confined were the cats in a row of cages.

00:02:39 Forcing a note from each pitch on the scale.

00:03:09 My soul capsized like a fish, paralysed on a chopping board

00:03:21 A rare celestial pitch that would complete his collection.

00:03:50 All music forbidden. Keep your lullabies hidden.

00:04:05 In icy hibernation was the once thumping heart.

00:04:35 The torturous worm of sound burrowed deep into my ears.

00:04:44 Neko Piano.

00:05:28 I enlisted an army of the brave and I their general declared war.

00:05:39 Eyes with fierce intent that glowed.

00:05:51 Scaling its walls with well-sharpened claws

00:06:02 There he sat. The organ grinder.

00:06:25 He stumbled. Fell through the window. Screaming into the indigo waters below.

00:06:41 And for home we set sail.

00:06:54 And I in anonymity, as I had been long before this soliloquy

00:07:09 And this ode its fading scar.