Ode To A Little Mouse

Ode To A Little Mouse
By Laijon Liu 20091009

'Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.'
- Shakespeare, The Tempest Act 2, scene 2, Line 40

01
In my tiny room, there’s a little mouse
A New Yorker he is, a resident of Queens
He’s lonely like me and nameless he is
He works all the days to see who he really is
Oh, my heart cries for you, my little friend
This world too big and your life too frail
In my roommate rooms they set the clip traps
And in each corner they prepared your last meal
But you still, running wise and boring brave
To be a master of your own fate, not a slave!

02
For that sweet cheese cake! You try to nose
For whole life among the rooms and traps
Oh dream of fulfillment, drives living purpose
That one day you may gain fat like those rats
But no, you are in my room, and I only have books
This is not a restaurant, nor subway tracks
And out there on street, too many wild cats
They are not house pets that live on diet food
So, you must be patient and do with what you have
For you haven’t met any girl mouse yet

03
Oh, love for a little mouse? Too unreal!
How that 2-second intimacy can make you feel?
What’s after, still loneliness, emptiness,
Such state even human wail and gods pale
In this mice and rats crowded capital,
How many couples truly find their nest?
Once you were born into this cold world
Then you must walk and search alone
Btwn the walls, sneak in and out the pipes
And hoping to find your sweet cheese

04
Go! You little mouse! Be smart and brave!
Don’t just hide in my tiny room
Even though you moved in here first
But your life is not staying here and starve
Even though I never wanted to trap you
Nor I’m too wicked to poison you
Still, you must go out and be stuffed
For all those trash are waiting for you
And you might be luckier than me
Soon walk with a mouse next door in flowery forest

05
Yes, you already used to be in this room
And I dare not to claim what I paid it’s mine
So all these years I let you stay in your corner
And marked the spot with a cookie each month
But it does not mean that I’ve accepted you
Or changed my mind to receive you as my pet
Mice and rats are not equal with dogs and cats
Not even people on earth obtain same rights
Maybe only in sleep or heavy drinks
So we can all be a big happy family

06
How many times at night I wake up
Fearing you may sneak into my bed
And how many times I almost hit you
That you broke the law of this room
Even though I’m a guy that fears a mouse
But in madness men can march out for kill
And not to mention if I find girlfriend, God willing
Then I’d be forced to set poison and traps
Haven't you ever heard that in love
A woman is more jealous than death?

07
Oh, you little mouse, sad and alone
All your life you search in hunger and fear
But tonight, you are so lucky
You’ve got a safe corner, no trap or death cookie
A poet observes you with his drink
And writes a few drunken verse in ink
Not for his love, not for any girl
But only for you, my roommate and companion
How are we two miserable creatures
Under same shelter, sharing same roof!

08
Let’s enjoy this moment for a temporal rest
Before sunlight shoots into this tiny room
You little mouse has worked all night
Yet must get up in hurry for a weary road
Man labors from cell to cell
To chase his dream in tunnels of world
Mouse seeks from pipe to pipe
To look for his cheese in the hall of trap
And both come back in dust and dark
Till one day we must part for love or death.