| | | Close by the threshold of a door, nail'd fast |
| | | Three kittens sat. Each kitten look'd aghast. |
| | | I, passing swift and inattentive by, |
| | | At the three kittens cast a careless eye; |
| 5 | | Not much concern'd to know what they did there, |
| | | Not deeming kittens worth a poet's care. |
| | | But presently a loud and furious hiss |
| | | Caus'd me to stop, and to exclaim - 'What's this?' |
| | | When lo! upon the threshold met my view |
| 10 | | With head erect and eyes of fiery hue |
| | | A viper, long as Count de Grasse's queue. |
| | | Forth from his head his forked tongue he throws, |
| | | Darting it full against a kitten's nose; |
| | | Who having never seen in field or house |
| 15 | | The like, sat still and silent, as a mouse. |
| | | Only, projecting with attention due |
| | | Her whisker'd face, she ask'd him - 'Who are you?' |
| | | On to the hall went I with pace, not slow, |
| | | But swift as lightning, for a long Dutch hoe; |
| 20 | | With which, well arm'd, I hasten'd to the spot, |
| | | To find the viper. But I found him not, |
| | | And, turning up the leaves and shrubs around, |
| | | Found only, that he was not to be found. |
| | | But still the kittens, sitting, as before, |
| 25 | | Sat, watching close the bottom of the door. |
| | | 'I hope' - (said I) - 'the villain I would kill |
| | | Has slipt between the door and the door's sill; |
| | | And if I make dispatch and follow hard, |
| | | No doubt, but I shall find him in the yard:' - |
| 30 | | For long ere now it should have been rehears'd, |
| | | 'Twas in the garden, that I found him first. |
| | | E'en there I found him. There the full-grown cat |
| | | His head with velvet paw did gently pat, |
| | | As curious as the kittens erst had been |
| 35 | | To learn what this phenomenon might mean. |
| | | Fill'd with heroic ardour at the sight, |
| | | And fearing every moment he would bite |
| | | And rob our household of our only cat, |
| | | That was of age to combat with a rat, |
| 40 | | With out-stretch'd hoe I slew him at the door. |
| | | And taught him never to come there no more. |
First published 1806.
Contributed by .
