Tuesday, July 13, 2010

"To a Deer Mouse"

(This was written after my girls brought a wounded deer mouse in the house, that died shortly afterward.)
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On the Death of a Deer Mouse



Little, frightened, timid mouse,

Your spirit fled while in my house.

Although you were afraid of me,

I’d have gladly set you free.

I hoped that you would thrive, and then

I’d take you to your home again.

But mice are not so very tough;

They’re mostly tail, and a bit of fluff.

And when some creature makes them pain,

Their mousey lives are quick to wane.

And so your eyes have turned to glass;

Your little nose has twitched its last.

But surely He who watches all,

And who takes note of sparrows’ fall

Will take you in His gentle hand

And bring you to a better land

Where dog, nor cat, nor farmer’s scythe

Can take again your little life.

-August, 2003

6 comments:

  1. Oh, how precious, Marqueta!
    My two cats are forever bringing me their offerings of mice, snakes and birds! Some dead, but some quite alive and yet some again, nearing deaths door. These are the hard ones for me. Do I release them from their misery, or let them try to make it somehow? I never know for sure. If there is life left in them, I always put them outside ~ just in case they make it! I have heard that if some little creature gets just a bit of cat saliva in their little systems, it will kill them even if their wound is not life threatening. Cats mouths are so toxic! But I still have hope that they will survive and release them anyway! I wonder how many times some of those little critters have been caught and released?
    Thank you for the 'deer' story about the mouse! The picture is so cute!
    Blessings!

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  2. Beautiful just Beautiful!! We had a stray cat that came to our home we felt much the same we tried to nurse it back to health but it died.... we all cried and sent him off as if he had a whole house of best friends~ Love Heather

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  3. Hey! I didn't know you had a blog with your own poetry! Yet another instance of the fact that, as far as I can tell, you don't have a mean bone in your body! In your tongue is the law of kindness! I don't know how long I can put off my saying, "Love you, dear older sister", so I'm afraid I'll just have to say it now!

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  4. I just read this again, and thought, "I must have commented on this before..." Sure enough, I had - but I must comment again: thank you for being so kind. This is one scarry world, and I don't know when I going to get "clobbered", but I do know the likelihood of getting "clobbered" by "thee" (i.e. you) is "slim to none", and that is a mighty nice thing to know!

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  5. I love your blogs! you are the best poet in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!! really!



    Have a nice birthday!

    ~Audrey

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