A Houyhnhnm's Scrapbook/Number 1/Night Walk

If you call it a catamount
it shall not spare you,
nor because the night is
so young that it has
only gristle for spine
and credence.

At any time it would delight
in slaughtering you
deftly while your own
conscience sits on
your head like
an amenable pompon.

This is not facilely said
nor as a plain mouthful;
my own grandfather
met the frightful cat
head on and never
survived it.

But I stole up and I
caressed it; when it was
on a morning full of
jesus-loves-you, and
it never threatened when
I believed it.