I once was calm and elegant,

A credit to my sex.

With nothing to disturb my poise …

To bother or perplex.

I baked; I shopped; I cleaned my house.

I wrote and outlined prose.

I mended socks and mowed the lawn,

I washed and ironed my clothes.

Life was good – predictable –

No need to gripe or grouse.

Until (my heart goes pitter pat)

The coming of the mouse!

I first saw one, then two, then three.

They scurried here and there.

And each and every sighting was

A frightful, awful scare!

Across my kitchen counter,

One did an Olympic sprint!

It moved as fast as lightning,

Where he went? I had no hint.

Beneath the stove, inside the wall

The attic, crawlspace, too.

Here and there so quickly,

I did not know what to do.

I called in a professional.

His job: Exterminate

Those creepy, crawly vermin

Who deserved no better fate.

For bottom line, it came to this:

In whose house did I live?

Was it my home or was it theirs?

Something had to give!

I waited ‘til my hero came,

Equipped with all his tools.

I sneered at my unwelcomed guests,

“You’ll die, soon, Rodent Fools!”

He put out poisons, Snap traps too,

Wherever he would think:

The powder room, the basement,

And beneath the kitchen sink.

Before he left, he confidently

Told me with a smile.

“Your house will be a mouse-free zone

In just a little while.”

Well … “little while” has come and gone,

Since that eventful date

When he whom I had trusted

Promised he’d exterminate

Those furry four legged critters

Who had quickly overrun

The house I’d loved to call my home

‘til they’d so cruelly come.

So now, no matter what I do –

Read books or watch TV –

I cannot focus on a page;

Nor do the screen I see.

For always from the corner

Of each eye within my house,

I seem to catch the glimmer of

A rapid-running mouse.

Try as I might, they just won’t leave.

My energy is spent.

My only recourse (I give up)

Is this … I’ll charge them rent!!!

Copyright © Shelly Reuben, 2017.

Shelly Reuben’s books have been nominated for Edgar, Prometheus, and Falcon awards. For more about her writing, visit www.shellyreuben.com