248 SELECT POETRY

THE KITTEN AND THE FALLING
LEAVES.

Ske the kitten on the wall
Sporting with the leaves thatfall—
Withered leaves—one—two—and three—
From the lofty elder-tree !
Through the calm and frosty air
Of this morning, bright and fair,
Eddying round and round they sink
Softly, lowly :—one might think,
From the motions that aremade,
Every little leaf conveyed
Sylph or fairy hither tending—
To this lower world descending,
Each invisible and mute,
In his wavering parachute.’
—But the kitten how she starts,
Crouches, stretches, paws, and darts !
First at one, and then its fellow,
Just as light and just as yellow ;
There are many now—now one—
Now they stop, and there are none.
What intenseness of desire
In her up-turned eye of fire!
With a tiger-leap, half-way,
Now she meets the coming prey,
Lets it go as fast, and then
Has it in her power again:

\ Parachute—a machine, in form resembling a large um-

Urella, by which persons may descend froin a great height in
the air; generally used in connexion with an air-ballon.