Puppet hindered by strings

Ungrateful little mouse

Chooses to eat his cheese in private

Doesn’t enjoy putting on a show

Pleasures kept to his personal prison

Behind walls and tunnels underground

When you want to play he can’t be found

A sliver or morsel is enough to subdue

His finer taste for privacy

Curiosity has yet to kill their cat

Although she has left scars on mousie

Of lives, the cat has nine

The anxiety of his span of such luxuries

Has left the much of his travels confined to his imagination

Occasionally trapped by the fear of fending for himself

Little mouse ends up in a labyrinth of passageways and deceitful routes

All eventually lead to the same place

Mousie has caught himself yet again

Feeling the tugs and pulls of the strings

From others’ persistence

In him winning A Rat’s Race

KAM 12/23/22