Charles Bukowski - The History of One Tough Motherfucker lyrics

He came to the door one
Night wet thin beaten and terrorized
A white cross-eyed tailless cat
I took him in and fed him and he stayed
Grew to trust me until a
Friend drove up the driveway
And ran him over
I took what was left to a vet who said
"not much
Chance…give him these pills…his backbone
Is crushed
But is was crushed before and somehow
Mended, if he lives he'll never walk
Look at
These x rays, he's been shot, look here
The pellets
Are still there…also, he once had a tail
Somebody cut it off…"
I took the cat back, it was a hot summer
One of the
Hottest in decades, I put him on the bathroom
Floor, gave him water and
Pills, he wouldn't eat, He
Wouldn't touch the water
I dipped my finger into it
And wet his mouth and I talked to him
I didn't go any- where, I put in a lot of
Bathroom time and talked to
Him and gently touched him and
He looked back at
Me with those pale blue crossed eyes
And as the days went
By he made his first move
Dragging himself forward by his front legs
(the rear ones wouldn't work)
He made it to the litter box
Crawled over and in
It was like the trumpet of possible victory
Blowing in that bathroom and into the city, I
Related to that cat-I'd had it bad, not that
Bad but bad enough
One morning he got up, stood up
Fell back down and just looked at me
"you can make it" I said to him
He kept trying, getting up falling down
Finally
He walked a few steps, he was like a drunk
The rear legs just didn't want to do
It and he fell again, rested, Then got up
You know the rest: now
He's better than ever, Cross-eyed
Almost toothless, but the grace is back
And that look in his eyes never left
And now sometimes I'm interviewed
They want to hear about
Life and literature and I get drunk
And hold up my cross-eyed
Shot, runover de tailed cat and I say"look
Look at this!"
But they don't understand
They say something like"you
Say you've been influenced by Celine?"
"no" I hold the cat up"by what happens, by
Things like this, by this, by this!"
I shake the cat, hold him up in
The smoky and drunken light
He's relaxed he knows
It's then that the interviews end
Although I am proud sometimes when
I see the pictures
Later and there I am and there is
The cat and we are photo- graphed together
He too knows it's bullshit but
That somehow it all helps