You never saw a cat with wings, <br />I'll bet a dollar -- well, I did; <br />'Twas one of those fantastic things <br />One runs across in old Madrid. <br />A walloping big tom it was, <br />(Maybe of the Angora line), <br />With silken ears and velvet paws, <br />And silver hair, superbly fine. <br /> <br />It sprawled upon a crimson mat, <br />Yet though crowds came to gaze on it, <br />It was a supercilious cat, <br />And didn't seem to mind a bit. <br />It looked at us with dim disdain, <br />And indolently seemed to sigh: <br />"There's not another cat in Spain <br />One half so marvelous as I." <br /> <br />Its owner gently stroked its head, <br />And tickled it with fingers light. <br />"Ah no, it cannot fly," he said; <br />"But see - it has the wings all right." <br />Then tenderly from off its back <br />He raised, despite its feline fears, <br />Appendages that seemed to lack <br />Vitality - like rabbit's ears. <br /> <br />And then the vision that I had <br />Of Tabbie soaring through the night, <br />Quick vanished, and I felt so sad <br />For that poor pussy's piteous plight. <br />For though frustration has it stings, <br />Its mockeries in Hope's despite, <br />The hell of hells is to have wings <br />Yet be denied the bliss of flight.<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-cat-with-wings/
