3 hours ago
edit;
Can anyone feel such sincere regret
for acts which cannot be undone and yet
on balance had to be accomplished? Pet
he was not, just a common long-tailed mouse
who got inside somehow... but in my house
that smallest presence made me feel a louse
for plotting his demise. He’d sit and view
computer movies ‘til I saw him, too,
then run when noticed. Though I had a few
ideas how to catch him, nothing worked–
he’d lick the bait from traps but never jerked
them hard enough to trigger. Still he lurked:
declined a private room (my live-catch trap),
approved noir cinema, left tiny crap
on pantry floors, chewed through chips’ Mylar wrap...
I see him from the corner of my eye–
his ghost, it must be, mouse that had to die.
And that is best for him and me, I lie.
Thanks to @brynmawr1 for the critique and suggestions. I've tried to implement them as best I can - including not hitting the reader over the head with the fact that I got him in the eind. (The business with the live trap is real - I thought at the time, looking at the clanky metal thing, "I'm giving him his own @#$% room!")
Can anyone feel such sincere regret
for acts which cannot be undone and yet
on balance had to be accomplished? Pet
he was not, just a common long-tailed mouse
who got inside somehow... but in my house
that smallest presence made me feel a louse
for plotting his demise. He’d sit and view
computer movies ‘til I saw him, too,
then run when noticed. Though I had a few
ideas how to catch him, nothing worked–
he’d lick the bait from traps but never jerked
them hard enough to trigger. Still he lurked:
declined a private room (my live-catch trap),
approved noir cinema, left tiny crap
on pantry floors, chewed through chips’ Mylar wrap...
I see him from the corner of my eye–
his ghost, it must be, mouse that had to die.
And that is best for him and me, I lie.
Thanks to @brynmawr1 for the critique and suggestions. I've tried to implement them as best I can - including not hitting the reader over the head with the fact that I got him in the eind. (The business with the live trap is real - I thought at the time, looking at the clanky metal thing, "I'm giving him his own @#$% room!")
Non-practicing atheist