Poem
Ruth Padel
CAT O’ NINE TAILS
CAT O’ NINE TAILS
CAT O’ NINE TAILS
Shrieks from above, on deck. One sailor lashedby the cat, twenty-five times for Drunkenness.
Three strands of rope, unravelled into three
(“the Trinity of Trinities” sets sinners on the path
to righteousness) and then replaited for a more
effective wound. Drum rolls – all hands to witness
punishment. Silence as tails are disentangled.
In the Bay of Biscay, the naturalist lies retching
on the floor: trying not to picture barbed knots
biting a cross on every spine and shoulderblade,
a glary scarlet scribble on open flesh again, again,
again. Thirty-one lashes for Neglect of Duty;
Disobeying Orders, thirty-four. Forty-four –
that’s Drunkenness with Insolence. The Captain
says he must establish order from the start.
Leg irons on five more. Till we passed Teneriffe,
says the Captain’s log, he was terribly sick.
“The misery,” he tells his journal, “is excessive.”
© 2009, Ruth Padel
From: Darwin: A Life in Poems
Publisher: Chatto & Windus, London
From: Darwin: A Life in Poems
Publisher: Chatto & Windus, London
Ruth Padel
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1947)
“Ruth Padel combines two major gifts. She is a distinguished poet and a quite exceptional reader of the poetry of others, with a delightful skill in explanation and the instinct of a caring, clearsighted guide to how poetry works and why it matters.”
(George Steiner)
Amongst her many plaudits, Ruth Padel was the winner of the Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition in 1996. She was Chair of ...
(George Steiner)
Amongst her many plaudits, Ruth Padel was the winner of the Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition in 1996. She was Chair of ...
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Poems of Ruth Padel
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CAT O’ NINE TAILS
Shrieks from above, on deck. One sailor lashedby the cat, twenty-five times for Drunkenness.
Three strands of rope, unravelled into three
(“the Trinity of Trinities” sets sinners on the path
to righteousness) and then replaited for a more
effective wound. Drum rolls – all hands to witness
punishment. Silence as tails are disentangled.
In the Bay of Biscay, the naturalist lies retching
on the floor: trying not to picture barbed knots
biting a cross on every spine and shoulderblade,
a glary scarlet scribble on open flesh again, again,
again. Thirty-one lashes for Neglect of Duty;
Disobeying Orders, thirty-four. Forty-four –
that’s Drunkenness with Insolence. The Captain
says he must establish order from the start.
Leg irons on five more. Till we passed Teneriffe,
says the Captain’s log, he was terribly sick.
“The misery,” he tells his journal, “is excessive.”
From: Darwin: A Life in Poems
CAT O’ NINE TAILS
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