An Evil

At first, utter shock that it was there, poking a nose from around a plant pot Then a rapid blitskrieg across the gravel, snatching a peanut and off like a shot Back under the fence to a warren of tunnels below the shed and back to it’s brood Eat children, Eat, I have brought you food At first it became a game to see Sometimes my wife sat next to me 10.20am on the dot each morn Great king rat appeared for his corn But soon, great king rat became cancerous The peanuts cast asunder from the bird table was never enough To feed a hungry horde He crossed the line, broke the cord Stepped over the border of territory and more Sitting on the step of my backdoor Too close for comfort, too close to home Raid the larder bare the bone With his army of hungry young running in his wake It was them or us, too much at stake So I bought a poison to make their blood thin Forgive me god, for I did sin They died an agonizing death Four days one went with dying breath Nose oozing blood with stomach blown If only I had known Anticoagulant it said on the tin No! it was immoral, inhuman a sin If it ever happened again, if they wanted to feed I would close my eyes, let them breed Anticoagulant to kill a rat No gods creature should suffer like that If poison need, if poison be Make it swift and cruelty free I disposed of great king rat and his family of young But the label on the tin decieved me, the pain in me watching them suffer, it stung It was an inhumane lingering torturous way to go Too long, too painful and too slow Antigoagulants should be banned, buried deep beneath the sod Who are we to play god So sorry great king rat I did not want to rid of you and your young like that