The Tragic Mice

It was a tragic little mouse
All bent on suicide
Because another little mouse
Refused to be his bride.

“Alas!” he squeaked, “I shall not wed!
My heart and paw she spurns;
I’ll hie me to the cat instead,
From whence no mouse returns!”

The playful cat met him half way,
Said she, “I feel for you,
You’re dying for a mouse, you say,
I’m dying for one, too!”

Now when Miss Mouse beheld his doom,
Struck with remorse, she cried,
“In death we’ll meet!—O cat! make room
For one more mouse inside.”

The playful cat was charmed; said she,
“I shall be, in a sense,
Your pussy catafalque!” Ah me!
It was her last offence!

Reader, take warning from this tale,
And shun the punster’s trick:
Those mice, for fear lest cats might fail,
Had eaten arsenic!