P O_E T_R Y4
A REBUKE
I DID but oust you from the chair I most affect, when toil is ended, And, with Zenobia's outraged air By Caesar's car, you sit offended ; If thoughts of cats can e'er be read, Yours may be thus interpreted- " Because it makes for warmth and case To hold a hearth and home in common, You think to lord it as you please ; You made the same mistake with woman, And one who, when admonished once, Repeats his fault, is dubbed a dunce.
Man's part is plain—to pay the rent, Tend fires and superintend the rations, And minister to cats' content By muzzling dogs and curbing passions ; To play the blustering autocrat Makes no impression on a cat.
'Tis like your blunderings in the East, With older, more reposeful races, You shift your moods till man or beast, Cuffed, petted, spoiled, kicks o'er the traces ; (We do not kick ourselves, for that Were unbecoming in a cat.) So by renowned Osirian Nile, When once your name was held in reverence, You helped lame dogs o'er many a stile, And hear them yelping now for severance ; Had you but owned our air serene, You had been gods, as cats have been.
Pause, ere your folly drives more deep, 'Tis manners mostly call for mending ; Let cats and tired nations sleep, Keep pert officials from offending, Then East and West and Cats and Men May be the best of friends again.'. T. THORNELY•
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