{"id":763,"date":"2013-08-04T21:01:26","date_gmt":"2013-08-05T04:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stickpersonpoetry.com\/spp\/?p=763"},"modified":"2016-07-11T14:47:01","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T21:47:01","slug":"0804","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stickpersonpoetry.com\/spp\/2013\/08\/04\/0804\/","title":{"rendered":"0804"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

0804
\nLinc curses those with flight<\/p>\n

The Cat With Wings <\/strong>
\nBy Robert William Service<\/p>\n

You never saw a cat with wings,
\nI’ll bet a dollar — well, I did;
\n‘Twas one of those fantastic things
\nOne runs across in old Madrid.
\nA walloping big tom it was,
\n(Maybe of the Angora line),
\nWith silken ears and velvet paws,
\nAnd silver hair, superbly fine.<\/p>\n

It sprawled upon a crimson mat,
\nYet though crowds came to gaze on it,
\nIt was a supercilious cat,
\nAnd didn’t seem to mind a bit.
\nIt looked at us with dim disdain,
\nAnd indolently seemed to sigh:
\n“There’s not another cat in Spain
\nOne half so marvelous as I.”<\/p>\n

Its owner gently stroked its head,
\nAnd tickled it with fingers light.
\n“Ah no, it cannot fly,” he said;
\n“But see – it has the wings all right.”
\nThen tenderly from off its back
\nHe raised, despite its feline fears,
\nAppendages that seemed to lack
\nVitality – like rabbit’s ears.<\/p>\n

And then the vision that I had
\nOf Tabbie soaring through the night,
\nQuick vanished, and I felt so sad
\nFor that poor pussy’s piteous plight.
\nFor though frustration has it stings,
\nIts mockeries in Hope’s despite,
\nThe hell of hells is to have wings
\nYet be denied the bliss of flight.<\/p>\n