The White Mouse that got Away

by Merrick the Fabulous

Ronald. That was his name.

Was he a mouse,
    Small, white and tame?

Or a louse,
    gray, smelly and vain?

That is still not known,
    For he vanished first from the lap of the fallen star
        And vandered into the closest bar.

In the bar so dusty and brown,
    he had a drink of wine,
        and thought it was a good day to mine.

Remove the boards did he
    And to mine with him bid he me.

But I said no to that
    and surly bacame he, not very glad.

He still dug a hole deep and dirty
    with help from his friend frail and jumpy.
        But rock he reached down at thirty
            feet and had to stop as friend became sulky.

But an idea had Ronald then
    to reach the guild of scribes’n ‘lators
        and hide between the scroll and pen.

There he ran now,
    with hunters on his tail.
        These hunters Ronald didn’t know,
            But surely they would fail.

Hidden was ronald,
    between the ink and the herald.

Heard he from hall,
    The vigilant sound of the hunters’ call.

The scribes came,
    haters of mouses,
        hunters of louses,
            but their search was lame.

Then came the hunters.
    great and magnificent men
        noble protectors of the burghers
            And cruel stalkers of whisker and tail.

Sharp was their sight and eyes keen,
    and soon was hapless Ronald seen.

The false one sighted the poor sod
    And the blue one on his tail trod.
        The skinny one did something hidden
            When the false one did what the blue one had bidden.

But too large were the hunter’s hands
    and Ronald broke his bands.
        Mighty a bite has a little mouse
            For a Hero was he, not a hapless louse.

Past the scribes hunters slayers he ran
    Into the streets of the city whatever the cost

Ran he beyond the reach of man
    There to the hunters was he lost

Now he should be happy and alive
    Untouched in the mids of the midden
        But all things cannot a mouse skive
            Like the farmers young little kitten…

< Sambal Kalju