A Cat’s Secret Heart

There’s a thing scientists did with cats
 because scientists are like that
 and the cats played along.
 

 They put cats in a room
 and then flooded it with mice.
 

 The cats stalked and pounced and killed 
 until all the mice were dead.
 Then the cats turned on the dead mice
 and stalked and pounced
 until their appetite for pouncing died
 and only stalking was left.
 

 They stalked for a long time
 among the dead.
 

 'Cats are, in their hearts, stalkers',
 the scientist said.
 

 I've long lived a life flooded with tasks.
 I stalked and pounced and killed
 for years at a time.
 

 Then the COVID virus locked me down
 and I spent weeks stalking tasks 
 until they were all dead and 
I had no energy to pounce.
 

 Still, I wake each day and look
 for tasks to stalk.
 

 'Am I, at heart, a stalker?'
 I ask my inner-self.
 

 It smiles at me, patiently and says,
 'The scientists were looking for stalkers
 so that is what they found
 but in their hearts, 
cats prefer to sit and purr.
 Why not try that instead?'


©Mike Finn 2021