a cat's fond, funny sendoff

In which a cat has ceased to be, and his or her human smiles and praises through the tears.

TO A DEAD CAT.
So thou art dead, fair, fondest cat!
Whom more than horse or dog
I loved, because thou wert the best
In nature’s cat-alogue.

No matter what hour I came home,
Thou never showed’st surprise,
Nor reasons for my being late
Wou‘ld’st ever cat-echize.

While, were I wed, my staying out
Would meet with criticism
From angry spouse, and, I’ve no doubt,
Of tears a cat-aclysm.

And now the cat-enation long
Death breaks twixt thee and me,
And I am left alone to weep
O’er this cat-astrophe.

So good-bye—since a cat-acomb
Must hold thy youth and grace,
The motto I’ll place o’er thy grave
Is “Requies-cat in pace.”

Colton, Charles Joseph, 1868-1916. Volume of Various Verse. New Orleans: Press of Searcy & Pfaff, 1899. p. 87.