A ray of sun strayed softly round, <br />For something to caress, <br />Until a resting place it found <br />Of joy and thankfulness; <br />'Twas Minette, our Angora cat, <br />With deep contented purr, <br />Relaxed in rapture on a mat, <br />Three kittens nuzzling her. <br /> <br />With tenderness the sunbeam kissed <br />her fur of silver-grey; <br />Her eyes held an ecstatic mist, <br />In boundless bliss she lay; <br />The sunny radiance seemed to hold <br />Her longer than it should, <br />As if it sought to shine in gold <br />Such mystic motherhood. <br /> <br />The darling kittens grew and grew; <br />Then one day Mother Cat, <br />Back from their gambolling withdrew, <br />And glared at them and - spat. <br />Aye, though they toddled after her <br />With playful stratagem, <br />Instead of soft maternal purr <br />She snarled and clawed at them. <br /> <br />And now she goes her callous way <br />And never gives them heed; <br />You barely would believe that they <br />Were children of her breed. <br />Upon the roof we see her creep <br />And howl with fiendish tone, <br />While on the hearth-rug softly sleep <br />Three kittens on their own. <br /> <br />And such is nature's way, it seems, <br />And maybe right at that; <br />So Mother, drop your foolish dreams <br />And emulate the Cat. <br />And when your offspring well are grown, <br />And strong and swift and tall, <br />Just turn them out upon their own <br />And let them fight - or fall.<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/kittens/
