Gratitude
I found a starving cat in the street:
It cried for food and a place by the fire.
I carried it home, and I strove to meet
The claims of its desire.
And since its desire was a little fish,
A little hay and a little milk,
I gave it cream in a silver dish
And a basket lined with silk.
And when we came to the grateful pause
When it should have fawned on the hand that fed,
It turned to a devil all teeth and claws,
Scratched me and bit me and fled.
To pay for the fish and the milk and the hay
With a purr had been an easy task:
But its hate and my blood were required to pay
For the gifts that it did not ask.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 24, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 190 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 600 |
Words | 134 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"Gratitude" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 18 Feb. 2025. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/8831/gratitude>.
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