"You do not know how much they mean to me, my friends, And how, how rare and strange it is, to find In a life composed so much, so much of odds and ends, [For indeed I do not love it...you knew? He is often portrayed with very long claws and wild dark hair. The poet says that Macavity is a Mystery Cat and is known by the name of Hidden Paw. Macavity’s a Mystery Cat: he’s called the Hidden Paw—He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad’s despair:He’s broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air—You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;And when you think he’s half asleep, he’s always wide awake.For he’s a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square—He’s outwardly respectable. The role of Macavity is usually played by the same actor as Plato (a chorus cat who notably does a Gillian Robert's schoolteacher detective Amanda Pepper has an elderly male companion cat whose métier seems to be relaxation.Macavity is the name given by several bus drivers from the you are not blind! Born in Missouri on September 26, 1888, T. S. Eliot is the author of Among the smoke and fog of a December afternoon You have the scene arrange itself—as it will seem to do— With "I have saved this afternoon for you"; And four wax candles in the darkened room, Four rings of light upon the ceiling overhead, An atmosphere of Juliet's tomb Prepared for all the things to be said, or left unsaid. I was drawn in by short gasps, inhaled at each momentary recovery, lost finally in the dark caverns of her throat, bruised by the ripple of unseen muscles. Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity, He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity. An elderly waiter with trembling hands was hurriedly spreading a pink and white checked cloth over the rusty green iron table, saying: "If the lady and gentleman wish to take their tea in the garden, if the lady and gentleman wish to take their tea in the garden..." I decided that if the shaking of her breasts could be stopped, some of the fragments of the afternoon might be collected, and I concentrated my attention with careful subtlety to this end. )And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard’s.And when the larder’s looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke’s been stifled,Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair—And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty’s gone astray,Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair—And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:You’ll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs;Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.At whatever time the deed took place—MACAVITY WASN’T THERE!And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the timeJust controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime! Macavity's a mystery cat He's called the Hidden Paw For he's a master criminal who can defy the law He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard The Flying Squad's despair For when they reach the scene of crime Macavity's not there. To find a friend who has these qualities, Who has, and gives Those qualities upon which friendship lives. Macavity is a master criminal; he possesses mystical powers and is the antagonist of the musical. Doyle wrote that Moriarty "is never caught" as at the moment of the crime he is probably "working out problems on a blackboard ten miles away" (His appearance was quite familiar to me. His nicknames include: the Mystery Cat, the Hidden Paw, and the According to the poem, even when the Secret Service decides that Macavity was behind a loss, they can't catch him, as "he's a mile away", "...[or] engaged in doing complicated long division sums". © Academy of American Poets, 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038 Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw— For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law. He is extremely tall and thin, his forehead domes out in a white curve, and his two eyes are deeply sunken in his head...his face protrudes forward and is forever oscillating from side to side in a curiously reptilian fashion.The poem accuses Macavity of misbehaviour that would be within the capabilities of an ordinary cat, such as stealing milk, but also holds him responsible for major crimes. The poem "Macavity the Mystery Cat" is the best known of Eliot's In the poem, Macavity is a master criminal who is too clever to leave any evidence of his guilt. Macavity’s a Mystery Cat: he’s called the Hidden Paw— For he’s the master criminal who can defy the Law. He is referred to as a "fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity" and has been suspected of stifling Webster and Starr assumed that Eliot referred to the cases of Mr. Joseph Harrison (Macavity apparently possesses the mystical power of Within the storyline of the musical, Macavity makes several attempts to scare the tribe. Macavity the Mystery Cat, also called the Hidden Paw, is a fictional character in T. S. Eliot's 1939 poetry book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The first letters of the phrase ‘Mystery Cat’ are written in capital, so the name is particular and proper.