We were so poor I had to take the place of the bait in the
mousetrap. All alone in the cellar, I could hear them pacing
upstairs, tossing and turning in their beds. "These are dark
and evil days," the mouse told me as he nibbled my ear. Years
passed. My mother wore a cat-fur collar which she stroked
until its sparks lit up the cellar.
__________________
Charles Simic
Houghton Mifflin, 2013
