Love Poem for a Dead Mouse

by Heidi Rotterdam

The softness of your furry coat,
Grey on the back, white on the belly,

I dare to touch - with reverence.

Your ears paper-thin, your whiskers
Short, erect, a warning,

I dare not touch. 

Your tail, stiff and straight,
An arrow to be avoided.

I lie next to you,

On pristine snow the sky released just yesterday,
Its crystals sparkle green and red

As sunrays hit them next to us.

My steaming sauna-body, naked,
Lost in the sea of cold

Screams:

Why did I kill you? Set the trap
That caught one hind leg only?

You did not die immediately,

You dragged yourself across two rooms
And came to rest next to my bed.

No blood, no sign of struggle.

We share this moment now
As we share 85% of our genes

And an ancestor 80 million years ago.