After all, why wouldn’t we
want to share our little cabin with mice?

It’s the warmth, I think,
that attracts them,
more than the food,
about which we’ve been careless

One day after rain
in the chill of evening
we lit a fire
to make things cozy
and early the next morning
we heard running in the roof

And this evening we found a little mouse
fallen down onto the hearth.
My husband captured it
and took it for a long walk

He said it was just a baby.
I said, if it’s a baby, maybe it’s a rat —
a soothing thought to take to bed.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 18, 2018