Animus

[Todd]

If I had a heart, said the kitten, said the cat,
it would float like a bubble, fancy that.
It could ride like a ribbon in the hair of a queen,
quite as hard as a winter but in soft velveteen,
and all other hearts would be base and obscene
-- but I don’t, said the kitten, said the cat.

I could read an entire book of verse like this, especially to my son before he goes to bed.

It definitely gives you an Alice in Wonderland feel as if the Chesire is displaced in time to talking to itself. I love the "quite as hard as a winter but in soft velveteen." It hints at cruelty and adult reality behind playful absurdity. Wonderful final line.