Verse form invented by
Cordwainer Smith in his story "
Under Old Earth", and ascribed to the "mad
cat minstrel C'Paul, who played it on his c'lute", it consists of five rhyming monosyllabic words arranged 2-2-1 as in this example:
Try.Vie.
Cry.Die.
Bye.
Of this, Smith says: "The form itself confirmed and reinforced the poignancy of
cats combined with the heartbreaking intelligence of the human being."
In musical form, it formed the basis for the Rediscovery of Man's equivalent of rock and roll.