Archy and Mehitabel

I'm not very fond of cockroaches.  Except maybe one - a fictional one, full of social commentary and humor, invented by Don Marquis.  Archy is a cockroach who types his views at night in a newspaper office, and whose work is characterised by distinctive typing due to his lack of ability to hold down the shift key and type at the same time.  

Originally a series of newspaper articles back in the 1916, it captured my imagination when I saw it some years ago in a mag.  I remember Archy every time I have a sore finger or hand and can't type properly.  And also sometimes when I see all the lower-case, no-apostrophed stuff touted as as writing communication these days.

It was turned into an animated musical (Shinbone Alley - 1971) but was a bit of  a flop.  

Archy's story begins:

expression is the need of my soul

i was once a vers libre bard  

but i died and my soul went into the body of a cockroach

it has given me a new outlook on life

i see things from the underside now

thank you for the apple peelings in the wastepaper basket

but your paste is getting so stale i can t eat it

there is a cat here called mehitabel i wish you would have

removed she nearly ate me the other night why don t she

catch rats that is what she is supposed to be here for 

there is a rat here she could get without delay

And a bit of philosophy:

if you get gloomy just
take an hour off and sit
and think how
much better this world
is than hell
of course it won t cheer
you up much if
you expect to go there