                                      1816
                             TO MRS. REYNOLDS'S CAT
                                 by John Keats

        Cat! who hast pass'd thy grand climacteric,
          How many mice and rats hast in thy days
          Destroy'd?- How many tit bits stolen? Gaze
        With those bright languid segments green, and prick
        Those velvet ears- but pr'ythee do not stick
          Thy latent talons in me- and upraise
          Thy gentle mew- and tell me all thy frays
        Of fish and mice, and rats and tender chick.
        Nay, look not down, nor lick thy dainty wrists-
          For all the wheezy asthma,- and for all
        Thy tail's tip is nick'd off- and though the fists
          Of many a maid have given thee many a maul,
        Still is that fur as soft as when the lists
          In youth thou enter'dst on glass-bottled wall.


                        THE END
