Mouse

Born in a playground, the runt of the litter

Of four little furballs to parents that fled

When a gang of raccoons mauled and gobbled his brothers,

He hid in the bushes from the cold and the bitter,

Wanting and waiting for things to get better.

 

And soon he was rescued, despite fearful mews,

By a lover of felines with three of her own:

A Tom with no tongue, and a Bob with no eye,

And a Kit with a nose badly hit with a bruise-

All bulky and hulking they called the runt Mouse.

 

However, this lover of felines had not

The time or the money to care for the four.

She put up his picture, asked who would buy,

And before the week ended, he warmly was bought,

And brought to a far more serene neighbourhood.

 

And daily by morning and through afternoon,

He’s curled in a box, on a bag, on the sill,

Catnapping except when in want of a meal,

’Til by night he’s alert for a roaming raccoon

To one day have revenge for the harm that was done.

-EDP

Reviews

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

Thank you so much for entering into the ode to my pet contest this is so gorgeous

[emipoemi]

Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you!

[H L Rose]

What an enjoyable little tale. It reminds me of a childrens story. I would say maybe it’s a bit darker than a children’s story, but if a wolf gobling up a little girls grandmother isn’t too dark...

At first I was thrown off by the lack of rhymes, but I actually like the flow, because it makes it feel more like a story.

The second stanza is my favorite with the descriptions of the other rescues. It conjures up a nice image of a girl with her four little rescued pets.

I enjoyed reading it!

[emipoemi]

This wasn't written with intention to be a children's story, but many have suggested that. lol. For the record, the poem does rhyme on lines 1 and 4 (line 5 is a half rhyme of that). Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading.

[H L Rose]

Of course!

[Emere]

I love this!! The ending is so perfect, and you built a really nice story in a relatively short style. I truly admire how well your stories flow, it's like you know exactly how to convey the passage of time in a tale. I'm quite jealous ;)

[emipoemi]

Hey....it took me 10 years to get to this level.....and with time and determination, you could get there too. However, judging by how you write yourself, you don't seem to have far to go to be able to churn out such quality work. Thanks for reading! Glad you enjoyed it.

[poetgurl]

I really enjoyed your first stanza, This is kinda emotional enjoyed reading this

[emipoemi]

Glad you did. Thanks for reading!

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

Love this sweet picture and cat tail- I mean tale of course! Ha! I am a dog rescuer and my brother is a cat rescuer, so this is very close to my heart. Harsh reality so beautifully, touchingly and lyrically presented. Would suggest tweaking to something like ‘from cold and from bitter’ for better flow. Excellent write. Kisses and nose bumps to little Mouse!

[emipoemi]

I'll take your comment into account, and see how it sounds (it flows nicely now, though, if you take a breath in the right place, but, true, your tweak suggestion does take out some unnecessary syllables. I'll see how it sounds). Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.