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the cat - World eBook Library

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THE CAT=<br />

Erected stiff, and gait awry,<br />

Like Madam in her tantrums high;<br />

Though ne'er a Madam of <strong>the</strong>m all<br />

Whose silken kirtle sweeps <strong>the</strong> hall,<br />

More varied trick and whim displays,<br />

To <strong>cat</strong>ch <strong>the</strong> admiring stranger's gaze.<br />

Doth power in measured verses dwell,<br />

All thy vagaries wild to tell?<br />

Ah no ! <strong>the</strong> start, <strong>the</strong> j et, <strong>the</strong> bound,<br />

The giddy scamper round and round,<br />

With leap, and j erk, and high curvet,<br />

And many a whirling somerset<br />

(Permitted be <strong>the</strong> modern Muse<br />

Expression technical to use),<br />

These mock <strong>the</strong> deftliest rhymester's skill,<br />

So poor in art, though rich in will.<br />

The nimblest tumbler, stage-bedight,<br />

To <strong>the</strong>e is but a clumsy wight,<br />

Who every limb and sinew strains<br />

To do what costs <strong>the</strong>e little pains,<br />

For which, I trow, <strong>the</strong> gaping crowd<br />

Requites him oft with plaudits loud.<br />

But, stopped <strong>the</strong> while thy wanton play,<br />

Applauses too thy feats repay:<br />

For <strong>the</strong>n, beneath some urchin's hand.<br />

With modest pride thou takest thy stand,<br />

While many a stroke of fondness glides<br />

Along thy back and tabby sides.<br />

17<br />

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