Black Rat Requiem Poem by Terence George Craddock (Spectral Images and Images Of Light)

Hail Rattus Rattus
How the Great have Fallen


black rat
you runt
mouse sized
long lean
with pointy
sticky beak nose

your crime
was to enter
uninvited
home lounge
by stealth
by night

and to be caught
brazen bold baby
arrogant spied lad
guilty actually seen
stupidly upon several
night days running


was time enough
to leave
poisoned you are
staring up
unable to move
prostrate

prone upon pedestal
lying upon entrance step
Imperial Bathroom Hall Door
tight shut closed before you
denying last plead request
drink thirst questing water

Hail Caesar
housemaster
I salute you
I who
am about
to die!


prostrate
questing water
head turns
slightly
last look up
dehydrated dead

‘die vermin’
that’s a thumb
down your dead


Copyright © Terence George Craddock