Cheshire Cat Letters

Sweet calligraphy expends its operose cloud
And wafts the mists to envelope a lull,
But claws rush in all bloodied mouth and loud;
Beauty’s no match for the intelligible.

Weak cries convey the death of something pathetic,
And up on the branch where decryptions begin,
Legibility’s readily eaten the aesthetic;
Senses posed non-disembodied win;
The cat’s disappeared, but gleams the grin.

Please enter notes for students of English below:

Operose – (Pronounced OP-ǝ-rōs, “op” as in “pop”) 1) involving great labor, laborious; 2) industrious, diligent; 3) tedious, wearisome.

The cat’s disappeared, but gleams the grin. – A reference to a famous image of a disappearing Cheshire cat by English artist John Tenniel (1820-1914) to illustrate Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.