Ethnic Cleansing; a Child’s Allegory: Part I Immigration

On an average street
Stood an average house
Whose occupants
Were an average mouse
An average dog
And an average cat
Although it unlikely
It’s an absolute fact
The owner himself
Was an average man
But drew from his brain
An extraordinary plan

But allow me some lines
To acquaint you by means
Of a brief germane history
Of unfolding scenes
How our band of strange fellows
Became mutually combined
And how at first fights
Ensured they were confined
But all ended in joy
Through splendid design
So let’s see what happened
I’ll not waste more time

Some time in the past
The man acquired the house
But it was thread-plain and bare
Except for the mouse
But then cupboards and tall boys
A fridge and a table
Some chairs and a TV
A lamp and a ladle
Invaded the rooms
And continued apace
That the poor little mouse
Was pushed out of the place

He retreated behind
The plaster board walls
And occupied nooks
That served as his hall
A bedroom, a lounge
A kitchen and loo
And contented himself
It the best he could do
“At least I can wander
In true isolation
When the man goes to sleep”
Some small consolation

One chill winter’s evening
He made a foray
His rations were low
His belly was empty
He scampered across
The cold kitchen tiles
And skipped around moonlight
That beamed down in files
He snuffled and sniffed
And scoured every inch
But the household was spotless
Not one crumb to pinch

As he cursed his bad luck
And scratched his flat tum
He noticed two lights had
Appeared cross the room
As pryingly taken
As any of his order
He pattered across
To investigate further
When to his horror a shape
Most dreadful and dark
Made an ominous movement
Behind those two sparks

Like a gazelle that had spotted
A ravenous leopard
He sprinted for safety -
His chink in the skirt board
Behind him the cat,
For the mouse knew too well
What he’d seen in the blackness
Was a rodents own hell,
Slipped on some grease
Hit a chair to his right
Which allowed the poor mouse
A head start in his flight

The creature in terror
Had no time to consider
When the man had adopted
This feline, come whither
His only concern
As his little legs scampered
Was to slip through the gap
Before he was hampered
At last he felt safe
As he dashed through the vale
But alas, to his horror,
He was snagged by the tail

His little hands gripped
‘Round an old piece of pipe
With the cat clawing, frenzied,
To taste mousey pie
He clung on with strength
Beyond his wee frame
And was suddenly lifted
Like a mouse aeroplane
As his fragile hold weakened
He was cat food for sure
When a thunder-like roar
Rose from beyond the door

The kerfuffle itself
Bellowed in from the stairs
Then a pair of pyjamas
And wild shaggy hair
Entered the kitchen
And threw on the light
What is all this rumpus
That’s woke me tonight?
The man stared at the moggy
Who was desperately pawing
Away at the skirting
Screeching and gnawing

You’re scratching the paint
Away cat, away
But the animal continued
In pursuit of the prey
Dragging the scruff
He collared the pussy
And hoisted him high
But oh what a fussy
Scene that transpired
In that little house
A hand held a cat
And a cat held a mouse

This compassionate man
Unhooked the hostage
And sheltered him safe
In a temporary cage
Of an old butter tub
On a ledge by the stove
Which the unhappy cat
Could not scale to trove
Yet despite fractious mewling
Of a kitty maligned
The man would not scold
The intrinsic incline

He’d brought home the cat
From a centre in town
For impoverished beasts
Unwanted, unknown
A grateful sweet pet
A friend, a companion
To curl by the fire
A just emigration
From cold cage confinement
To warm house to wander
A New World just waiting
To explore and to conquer

The next day the man
Went out with intent
To purchase a pen
For the destitute rodent
But with an ulterior
Line of debate
To remove from the cat
This temptation innate
And a high board installed
For the ‘castle’ itself
That prepared the poor mouse
For life on a shelf

Initially, true,
Things were set up to please
The cage had a wheel
A ladder, trapeze!
Plenty of clean straw
Just snug for a snooze
He was safe and secure
And ate regular food
Below kitty padded
In circular stress
Dreaming for wings to
Attack the fortress

But soon the mouse tired
Of his high citadel
With its wheel, ladder, swing
More like toys in a cell
He longed for the freedom
Of running a-frisk
Behind wall, ‘cross floorboard
Regardless the risk
Of the whiskered fiend
That glowered beneath
Who longed for the taste
Of mouse in his teeth

Then one rain darkling dusk,
The sky black as a witch,
A faint scraping like
A ghost scratching an itch
Reached the cosseted man
Asleep in his nightshirt
From his chair by the fire
To a prostrate alert
The cat, also snoozing,
Uncurled and stretched,
And curiously followed
The curious wretch

Seeking the source
Of this sinister grind
He crept like a hooded monk
Silent, half-blind
Tiptoed to the hall where the
Rasp was augmented
It scoured the front door
Like a cleaner demented
With only a candlelight
Piercing the mantle
Of the creepy thin hallway
He gripped the door handle

With his Adam’s apple grown
Now as large as a melon
He inched back the frame
Lest confronting a demon
Bleary eyes narrowed
To slant from agog
But no evil form loomed
Out the precipitous fog
Instead he glanced downward
Toward a wee whimper
That came from the region
Around his worn slipper

There on the step
As pathetic a sight
He had ever encountered
Was a poor sodden mite
His fur matted tightly
As if in need of a loom
He stroked the mutt softly
Bade it in from the gloom
Into the warmth of his
Living-room hearth
Where it gratefully lay
Gathering its breath

But nosey young kitty
Who had followed apace
Spotted the canine
And froze there in place
Her pelt rose asunder
Upon seeing the dog
And involuntarily feigned
A new species of hedgehog
But regaining the use
Of her four padded paws
She flew up the staircase
And hid under some drawers

The man felt distressed
At the plight of the cat
But reckoned he could
Organize a pet pact
He saw in the dog
A congenial nature
As a piteous whine
Left the skeletal creature
Let the pussy cat see
How poorly the doggy
And evoke empathy
From the petrified moggy

He took an old blanket
And wrapped up the dog
With a hot water bottle
And it slept like a log
Dreaming of misery
And years of abuse
Scolding and beatings
And eating refuse
In turn, though, its dreams
Turned to sweetness and bliss
Safe in a New World
And new master of his

Meanwhile its rescuer
Had another mission
And let sleeping dog lie
To carry out the commission
He crept into the kitchen
Took some cheese from the fridge
For an altitude-sick pet
Alone on his ridge
A small little supper
A nibble to gnaw
But the sad little mouse
Was asleep in the straw

Dreaming of running
Dreaming of freedom
Careless and carefree
In his old kingdom
A dream o’er the ken
Of this genial host
Who, smiling benignly,
Walked to the post
Of the foot of the stair
And climbing to rest
To crawl beneath blankets
And rewardingly nest

But seeing his crib
Put paid to that sleep
On top of the covers
Was a shivering heap
Could it be a ghost
That quivered beneath?
A small impish phantom
With devilish teeth
But thinking the night
Could not get more eerie
Then out crawled the pussy
Slowly and wary

The pathetic meow
Emanating from kitty
Evoked in the man
An ocean of pity
In being the salvation
Of the destitute cur
He forgot to consider
The cat’s innate fear
And cuddling now
This trembling fur
Tiptoed inaudibly
Back down the stairs

He intended to warm
A little milk in a bowl
To pacify puss
And sweeten her scowl
But passing the lounge door
Was heard in the hall
From the mutt in the blanket
A low rumbling snarl
As jealous a growl as
Any canine had uttered
On seeing his master
Cradling another

He leapt from the roll
And onto his feet
As sprite as a deer
Being hunted for meat
And ran at the pair
Aghast at the scene
Of an indigent doggie
Turned horribly mean
His bark carried vigour
One could not have foretold
An hour ago
Crawling in from the cold

Growling and snapping
In haphazard circles
The dog sought to replace
His rival in cuddles
Embraced in his arms
The cat swelled its breast
And braced itself tightly
Against the man’s chest
Then eighteen sharp claws
Suddenly punctured his skin
And screeching he flopped
The cat back down again

It sprinted away
From the slavering dog
Who was too slow to snare
The cheetah-like mog
But content that he’d put
The scared cat in his place
He sauntered back smug
To the warm fireplace
Upstairs in a cupboard
Among socks, shirts and towels
Burying itself like an ostrich
The quaking Puss cowered

Lumbering to bed
The man felt downcast
That his admirable aim
To offer the outcast
The orphan, the weak
A sanctuary
With best of intentions
Had turned topsy-turvy
And closing his eyes
On the course of the day
Vowed to be sanguine
I will find a way