OF MICE

The rhyme

repeats again:

See how they run.

See how they run.

We’re victimized

by each surprise:

the farmer’s wife,

the carving knife.

Don’t sleep at night.

We fear

the murderers:

one captured three

towns away. Two

still free. Like mice,

they tunneled through

sewage pipes under

the penitentiary.

We lock all doors,

and, when the wind

hurtles umbrellas

against the deck,

we hide.