Step o’er me just above;
With shrill pathetic mewings through the night,
As of a cat in love.
I heard the sounds of passion and of fight,
The caterwauling chimes,
That fill each attic chamber in the night,
Where some starved poet rhymes.
My night-capped head in the cool midnight air
Sought vainly some repose;
The echo of perpetual squalls rose there,