The old saying “a leopard cannot change his spots” usually means that some things about a person’s nature are fixed. Hoffenstein turns that idea into a small joke by calling the spots “forget-me-nots.” Those little blue flowers are associated with remembrance, so the leopard’s markings become his way of saying “remember me.” The speaker seems amused and affectionate, not serious. The mood is light and clever: a familiar proverb is suddenly turned into a whimsical image. Instead of treating the leopard’s spots as a problem, the poem treats them as a built-in bouquet — a permanent, natural part of who he is that keeps him from being forgotten. It is the sort of two-line wit that makes you smile at the reversal.
The Leopard Cannot Change His Spots — Summary
The leopard cannot change his spots: In short, they're his forget-me-nots.