To Have and Hold: A Poem of Rats

“To Have and Hold: A Poem of Rats” by T.K. Wade

We met in a crowded cage,

on a completely random day.

I never saw it coming.

He met me quite by chance,

with a handsome sneaky glance,

and asked, “Where are we to be going?”

“Going?” asked I then,

for I did not understand.

I had never seen him before.

He said, “Let me show you pleasures,

of great, unheard of measures–

conversed of only in lore.”

The quick well-spoken kind,

is not so easy to find,

and I found it hard to resist.

Although, I tried to flee,

so that I might soon be set free,

he caught me and said, “I must insist!”

When I asked him what he meant–

all my energy almost spent–

not to mention that I really didn’t care.

He peered right in my eyes,

and took me well-aside,

and this is what he had to share:

“I need you.

I want you.

I crave you in ways untold.

Come with me.

Play with me.

Only you do I wish to have and hold.”

The words Oh! seemed sincere,

and I don’t think I could hear,

all the alarms that told me not to go.

There was no way to resist,

those red eyes and with a kiss,

I had soon become a girl with a beau.

But one day I did see him–

I’m fairly sure I saw him–

in the arms of another female rat.

At first, I wasn’t sure,

for I thought him to be pure,

so I dismissed it as a simple misjudged fact.

But then there came a day,

that surely got right in my way.

This rat was seen once more with her.

And if there was any thought.

that my fears were but for naught,

he spoke these words as he stroked her velvet fur:

“I need you.

I want you.

I crave you in ways untold.

Come with me.

Play with me.

Only you do I wish to have and hold.”

And now I want him dead,

I want to crush his little head,

and never will the world bemoan him.

I entirely despise

his beady little eyes.

I wish to make him pay for his sins.

And if I get the chance,

to stab him with a lance,

he will have gotten off too easy.

For all the grief he’s caused,

I will likely never pause,

and I won’t be the least… bit… queasy.

I hate him.

I despise him.

I wish him suffering untold.

Break him.

Kill him.

Only him do I wish to have and hold.