The greater cats with golden eyes <br />Stare out between the bars. <br />Deserts are there, and the different skies, <br />And night with different stars. <br />They prowl the aromatic hill, <br />And mate as fiercely as they kill, <br />To roam, to live, to drink their fill; <br />But this beyond their wit know I: <br />Man loves a little, and for long shall die. <br /> <br />Their kind across the desert range <br />Where tulips spring from stones, <br />Not knowing they will suffer change <br />Or vultures pick their bones. <br />Their strength's eternal in their sight, <br />They overtake the deer in flight, <br />And in their arrogance they smite; <br />But I am sage, if they are strong: <br />Man's love is transient as his death is long. <br /> <br />Yet oh what powers to deceive! <br />My wit is turned to faith, <br />And at this moment I believe <br />In love, and scout at death. <br />I came from nowhere, and shall be <br />Strong, steadfast, swift, eternally: <br />I am a lion, a stone, a tree, <br />And as the Polar star in me <br />Is fixed my constant heart on thee. <br />Ah, may I stay forever blind <br />With lions, tigers, leopards, and their kind.<br /><br />Vita Sackville-West<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-greater-cats/
