A dog met a cat and with scorn in his eye
He said “Little Puss! Can you answer me why
You roam here alone where big foes roam about
Does your father and mother not know you are out.”

Soon wild dogs and tame dogs and some not so tame
Came up the same way that the dog and cat came.
The dogs gave him lip and he answered them back.
And soon they got mixed in an awful attack,
The cat saw them coming and ran up a tree
The dog stood his ground for no coward was he.

They fought till they left him all covered with dirt,
And plaster with blood he was terribly hurt.
Then the cat left its tree slipping quietly home,
Resolved to be careful when tempted to roam.

Michael Mullin, ‘THE BARD OF FOREMASS’

Foremass Lower, Sixmilecross, Co. Tyrone.