What The Eye Don’t See

Rats - in the bathroom
in the tack room
in the back room

in the shower, in her bed
unstuffing her pillow
unpicking stitches in his quilt

down in the kitchen
in the saucepans
in the drawers

sniffing out a bag of flour
licking out the dripping bowl
catching

their whiskered features
in her granny's silver spoons.
However, in the smaller picture,

not one spot of rat's blood
on the windows
on his pitchfork

in her hair
or on his specs.
Not one flattened rodent

underfoot. Not one
small expiring body
on the threshold. Ah!

but what those rats don't know
is that this solemn couple
have recently bought shares in Warfarin.