One of my literary heroes is Archie the cockroach. In times past he would leave typed messages for the journalist Don Marquis, detailing his reflections and his adventures with his friend Mehitabel the cat. Of course, being a cockroach, Archie could type only by leaping from key to key. His messages lacked both upper cases and punctuation marks, and Marquis saw they had the sense of free-verse poetry. (Indeed, Marquis believed Archie was a cockroach because in his previous life he had been a free-verse poet.). And so as he published them, Marquis arranged Archie’s notes as poems.
Anyway, I’ve found some considerable wisdom in Archie’s meditations. The following is one I’ve found particularly helpful as I’ve reflected on how we need to live our lives.
the song of mehitabel
this is the song of mehitabel
of mehitabel the alley cat
as i wrote you before boss
mehitabel is a believer
in the pythagorean
theory of transmigration
of the soul and she claims
that formerly her spirit
was incarnated in the body
of cleopatra
that was a long time ago
and one must not be
surprised if mehitabel
has forgotten some of her
regal manners
i have had my ups and downs
but wotthehell wotthehell
yesterday scepters and crowns
fried oysters and velvet gowns
and today i herd with bums
but wotthehell wotthehell
i wake the world from sleep
as i caper and sing and leap
when i sing my wild free tune
wotthehell wotthehell
under the blear eyed moon
i am pelted with cast off shoon
but wotthehell wotthehell
do you think that i would change
my present freedom to range
for a castle or moated grange
wotthehell wotthehell
cage me and i d go frantic
my life is so romantic
capricious and corybantic
and i m toujours gai toujours gai
i know that i am bound
for a journey down the sound
in the midst of a refuse mound
but wotthehell wotthehell
oh i should worry and fret
death and i will coquette
there s a dance in the old dame yet
toujours gai toujours gai
i once was an innocent kit
wotthehell wotthehell
with a ribbon my neck to fit
and bells tied onto it
o wotthehell wotthehell
but a maltese cat came by
with a come hither look in his eye
and a song that soared to the sky
and wotthehell wotthehell
and i followed adown the street
the pad of his rhythmical feet
o permit me again to repeat
wotthehell wotthehell
my youth i shall never forget
but there s nothing i really regret
wotthehell wotthehell
there s a dance in the old dame yet
toujours gai toujours gai
the things that i had not ought to
i do because i ve gotto
wotthehell wotthehell
and i end with my favorite motto
toujours gai toujours gai
boss sometimes i think
that our friend mehitabel
is a trifle too gay
St Theresa of Avila said that all the way to heaven is heaven. Like Mehitabel the cat in Don Marquis’ poems, we all have our ups and downs. And perhaps more than one of us has followed a Maltese cat down paths we perhaps would have been better off not walking. But all the way to heaven is heaven. To really know this we need, in the words of Joseph Campbell, to “follow our bliss.”
One of the best descriptions I’ve heard of a successful congregation is that “it should be more fun to be inside working, than outside looking in.” Of course we’re not going to eliminate tension or conflict in our church life. But we should be wary if it’s all drudgery. We cannot forget to celebrate life as we live it.
A church community should be a place for joy and surprise. Mary Englebreit in one of her wonderful greeting cards, shows a dancing clown. The caption reads “life is too mysterious to take too serious.” Hopefully in our congregation, we’ll remember Mehitabel’s wotthehell wotthehell, and celebrate the mystery.
Toujours gai!
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