The fat cat on the mat <br />may seem to dream <br />of nice mice that suffice <br />for him, or cream; <br />but he free, maybe, <br />walks in thought <br />unbowed, proud, where loud <br />roared and fought <br />his kin, lean and slim, <br />or deep in den <br />in the East feasted on beasts <br />and tender men. <br />The giant lion with iron <br />claw in paw, <br />and huge ruthless tooth <br />in gory jaw; <br />the pard dark-starred, <br />fleet upon feet, <br />that oft soft from aloft <br />leaps upon his meat <br />where woods loom in gloom -- <br />far now they be, <br />fierce and free, <br />and tamed is he; <br />but fat cat on the mat <br />kept as a pet <br />he does not forget.<br /><br />John Ronald Reuel Tolkien<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/cat/