“I Got A Cat In A Nearby Village And Called Him Snowball, And Wrote This Poem About Him For Fun”

似虎能緣木，如駒不伏轅。
但知空鼠穴，無意為魚餐。
薄荷時時醉，氍毹夜夜溫。
前生舊童子，伴我老山村。

Like a tiger if it could climb a tree,
Or a colt that wouldn’t pull a cart,
So dead-set on his mousing
That he has no time for fish.
On catnip and occasion he loses himself,
and every night he keeps my blankets warm—³
He must’ve been my servant in some past life,
Keeping me company through age and rustication.

-B O'Kane