Who Will Bell the Cat?

 

 

Who will bell the cat

For the car needs to be belled?

“Not me came!” the chorus,

As every mouse yelled.

 

Their community lessened

When the cat arrived

And their existence depended

On “Bell the Cat” drive.

 

“Oh, a great idea it is,”

Declared the wisest mouse,

But not one of those mice

Wanted to be souse.

 

 

But Cat moved so quietly

Not a mouse would hear

And only when one was taken

The rest disappeared.

 

Thus, they were desperate

To bell this cat

But none had the courage

To make it a fact.

 

He’d have to be asleep

To achieve this feat

And if perchance Cat awoke

He’d have mouse meat.

 

 

 

And as you know

Mice are a cat’s delicacy,

Especially so, I must assure you

When they are fat and juicy.

 

In many an organization

Are persons to be belled

But like mice, people are afraid,

Every time they yell.

 

Afraid of their bark

More so than their bite

And more often would cower

Rather than fight.

 

 

But in their little groups

They quarrel all day

On how they would bell the cat

In this and that way.

 

But none comes forward

To accept the bell

Yet they are morbidly afraid

Each time Massa yells.

 

Especially so in church

And in Parliament too,

Whatever the big cat demands

The little mice do.

 

And they raise no alarm

Pretending all is well,

Not one will blow the whistle

Or ring the bell.

 

 

Too afraid to do so,

There’s too much to lose

So, when required to bell the cat,

They all refuse.

 

Stewart Russell © January 9, 2025