One night, returning home, much intoxicated From one of my haunts about town I fancied that the cat avoided my presence The cat avoided my presence One night, returning home, much intoxicated From one of my haunts about town I fancied that the cat avoided my presence I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence He inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth The fury of a demon instantly possessed me I knew myself no longer My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body And a more than fiendish malevolence Gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife Opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat And deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket! I'm blushed, I burn, I shudder All I say the damnable atrocity The cat avoided my presence