Do Not Hate Your Neighbour's Cat Mandy Poem by Francis Duggan

Do not hate your neighbour's cat Mandy for he feels he has not done wrong
By killing the golden billed blackbird and robbing your garden of his song
He does not have a guilty conscience a bird to him is only prey
Our own kind are far greater killers though you do not see it that way.

Do not hate your neighbour's cat Mandy to kill to him comes naturally
I too eat the flesh of dead creatures am I any better than he?
And cats kill less of their own kind than humans do humans kill their own kind every day
And humans kill more wild things than cats do and in species extinction a greater part play.

Do not hate your neighbour's black persian tom Mandy to his instincts he's only true
You cannot say he is a bad cat if any wrong he feels he did not do
Cats are born hunters and killers they are always prowling around
And searching for mice in the high grass and stalking small birds on the ground.

Do not hate your neighbour's cat Mandy though he has done a terrible thing
Another blackbird will come to your garden and high on the silver birch sing
Perhaps the poor blackbird was ageing and to react to danger was too slow
And cats of the frail take advantage and mercy not in them to show.