Rats In Cages, Edit #2

[Weeded]

Although this is in novice, you seem pretty serious about this piece, so I'm going to forgo a quick response with a line by line:

[I can only gain so much reading responses to other people's poetry, so it has some merit to let you critique my own work. I've done much editing to this, and there are portions I am not satisfied with, so it will likely be edited many more times. The statements are not as solid as I would like, but that could only come in the final wave of edits.]

--Edit #2--
There are rats in cages and mazes that are happier than I am. This poem immediately speaks to me; perhaps we are in similar places but I am instantly captivated by these opening lines.
They do not kick walls or see constellations. Yup.
They do not think of life and death
Or balance them on dark and light fulcrums. *or..? 

I watch them, fur and flesh over bone and brain.
I give them levers to pull, to see if they decide. Not sure if this stanza is needed.

The levers move in silence. Not sure if this line is needed, either.

Their futile bodies know the question; This is starting to feel more like "tell" than "show."
Their noble beings have no answer. Is a rat noble?
Their lives are only chemical computers, aren't humans the same?
Chaotic twitches of mortal muscle, this line brings it back to "show."
Seeking validation for every bite.
They shake in self-awareness at the power of their hands. Hmm... Are we aware that rats possess self-awareness? I do not know personally.

In reflection they see their fur
Placed over skin that is not their own I point this out again only because of the number of edits put into this one... But *placed?
Just before the glass breaks.

Ok so I really enjoyed the theme, the two opening lines were the strongest, imo. Honestly I didn't take much after the first stanza, and I'm left wondering at the end. There doesn't seem to be any real meaning to the piece as a whole, other than there are rats in cages happier than the narrator(which is already said in the first two lines). I would recommend you introduce a new idea, or several, to strengthen the theme rather than go into meticulous detail on the rats in the cages and their actions. Thanks for sharing,
mike