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Why be this Ink the Fount of Wit?—who dare
Blaspheme the glistening Pen-drink as a snare?
A Blessing?—I should spread it, should I not?
And if a Curse—why, then upset it!—there!
A moment’s Halt, a momentary Taste
Of Bitter, and amid the Trickling Waste
I wrought strange shapes from Máh to Máhi, yet
I know not what I wrote, nor why they chased.
Now I beyond the Pale am safely past.
O, but the long, long time their Rage shall last,
Which, tho’ they call to supper, I shall heed
As a Stone Cat should heed a Pebble cast.
And that perverted Soul beneath the Sky
They call the Dog—Heed not his angry Cry;
Not all his Threats can make me budge one bit,
Nor all his Empty Bluster terrify.
They are no other than a moving Show
Of whirling Shadow Shapes that come and go
Me-ward thro’ Moon illumined Darkness hurled,
In midnight, by the Lodgers in the Row.
Myself when young did eagerly frequent
The Backyard Fence and heard great Argument
About it, and About, yet evermore
Came out with Fewer Fur than in I went.
Ah, me! if you and I could but conspire
To grasp this Sorry Scheme of things entire,
Would we not shatter it to bits, and then
Enfold it nearer to our Heart’s Desire?
Tho’ Two and Two make Four by rule of line,
Or they make Twenty-two by Logic fine,
Of all the Figures one may fathom, I
Shall ne’er be floored by anything but Nine.
And fear not lest Existence shut the Door
On You and Me, to open it no more.
The Cream of Life from out your Bowl shall pour
Nine times—ere it lie broken on the Floor.
So, if the Fish you Steal—the Cream you drink—
Ends in what all begins and ends in, Think,
Unless the Stern Recorder points to Nine,
Tho’ They would drown you—still you shall not sink.
BOOKS BY OLIVER HERFORD

WITH PICTURES BY THE AUTHOR

PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS

THE BASHFUL EARTHQUAKE $1.25 A CHILD’S PRIMER OF NATURAL HISTORY $1.25 OVERHEARD IN A GARDEN $1.25 MORE ANIMALS net, $1.00 THE RUBAIYAT OF A PERSIAN KITTEN net, $1.00 THE FAIRY GODMOTHER-IN-LAW net, $1.00

Transcriber's Note

The unusual capitalisation is as it appears in the original text.

Advertising material has been moved to the end of the text.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Rub�iy�t of a Persian Kitten, by Oliver Herford
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