Two Ways of Life

You’ll live your life running
Said the mouse to his children.
For many a life’s lived
In ending our own.
With mouths full of thunder
And paws that grow thorns,
Never, no never
Will they leave us alone.

You’ll live your life running
Said the cat to her children.
Our prey don’t just sprout up
And drop at our feet.
In scent or in sound
The best are betrayed.
If we don’t out-pace them
There is no hope or meat.

With one morning’s hunger
The mouse left his children.
While four kittens waited
For their mother’s return.
The young mice stayed lonely,
And the kittens weren't hungry.
In life and in death
Did the two families learn.