Page 55 - Poetry-Animals

The Kitten

“Hurrah!” cried the kitten, “hurrah!”
As he merrily set the sails
“I sail o’er the ocean today,
To look at the Prince of Wales!”

“O kitten! O kitten!” I cried,
“Why tempt the angry gales?”
“I’m going,” the kitten replied,
“To look at the Prince of Wales!”

“I know what it is to get wet,
I’ve tumbled full oft in pails
And nearly been drowned—and yet
I must look at the Prince of Wales!”

“O kitten!” I cried, “the Deep
Is deeper than many pails!”
Said the kitten, “I shall not sleep
‘Till I’ve looked at the Prince of Wales.”

“O kitten! Pause at the brink
And think of the sea-sad tales.”
“Ah, yes,” said the kitten, “but think,
Oh, think of the Prince of Wales!”

“But, kitten,” I cried, dismayed,
“If you live through the angry gales,
You know you will be afraid
To look at the Prince of Wales.”

Said the kitten, “No such thing!
Why should he make me wince?
If ‘a cat may look at a king,’
A kitten may look at a prince.”

— Oliver Herford (from a Victorian Scrap Album)

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