A Cat's Example

For three whole days I and my cat

Have come up here, and patiently sat-

We sit and wait on silent Time;

He for a mouse that scratched close by,

At a hole where he sets his eyes-

And I for some music and rhyme.

Is this the poet's secret, that

He waits in patience, like this cat,

To start a dream from under the cover?

A cat's example, too, in love,

With Passion's every trick and move,

Would burn up any human lover.