They were eating through my pantry; I can’t be blamed
Additionally, it’s not a crime; I cannot be arraigned.
But mice are so pestersome
All will agree
In the battle for food
It’s considered unrude
To set up a snare
To dare any critter
Who fritters away
His God-given hours
In the vain pursuit
Of stealing food or flowers.
GET A JOB I told him, but he wouldn’t listen
Instead he came creeping into my kitchen
And found the trap before I could stop him
To parlay in peace
Before mouse or meece
Got into trouble
For doubly wicked
Crimes of self-preservation directly in opposition to the general rules of society.
When I found he was dead, I wept for a second.
I always thought I was more cold-hearted,
When I’d set up the trap, when across the kitchen the mouse darted
I had no idea
That the feelings insideWould be sympathetic
To vermin dead or alive
I picked up the limp creature
And begging “I’m sorry,”
I attached my lips to the mouses’
And breathed a breath so small
And pumped the heart so softly
The mouse came awake with a start
Across the floor he darted
And just before zipping
Under the wall
In a burrow he’d burrowed
(I’d noticed last fall)
He turned around
And that rat
Called me a name
So profane
I vowed never to help anyone again.