If you’ve ever seen a wolf

If you’ve ever seen a wolf
in the wild – or so the old
saying goes – it’s seen you

a thousand times before.
So maybe the same is true
of a mouse. Think of whenever

you’ve been alone and made
the most of that moment:
you’ve sung so loud; invented

a dance; bounced on your bed
like a kangaroo. And once, just
once – you may have discovered

that you were watched
by a mouse: apricot-brown,
with two unblinking, ebony eyes.

So what to do? Nothing.
Be good to your whiskery
neighbour: it will not judge,

nor laugh at you, nor grade
your dance out of 5. Just let
it return to the world below,

knowing your home
is no longer
your own.

By kind permission of the poet