a kitten teaches a sharp lesson

"To return to cats. I read the other day a poem which struck me as exquisitely dainty, and which told of the love of a boy for a kitten. The writer of it was a young girl. I translate it from the German:"

Young Robin for his pastime kept
A little snow-white kitten;
To see how daintily it slept,
You could not but be smitten.

Its flashing eyes, all folks agreed,
You loved on merely seeing;
The boy and kitten were indeed
One heart, one soul, one being.

Once on his heart the dear thing lay,
He bent to kiss it sleeping;
Alack, a claw him pierced straightway,
And left him torn and weeping.

Poor Robin sobs aloud, "Oh, me!
The little soft deceiver!
Her sparkling eyes how could I see
And love not and believe her?"

Whist, foolish lad ! 'tis very clear
That kittens must have pastime.
You're scratch'd indeed—bend low your ear—
The first time be the last time.

"Though not very creditable to Puss, that is the very prettiest poem I ever read about her."

-- Elsa D'Esterre-Keeling, "Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Insects, Reptiles, and a Woman's Thoughts About Them," The Gentleman's Magazine vol. 269 (July-December 1890), pp.359-365