Many Mice are Hanging on the Moon

Forgiveness14 by Maya Chae

Many mice are hanging on the moon
and singing.

They sing of all the traps
that did not catch them.

They hang on the moon
because it is full, like a balloon.
They are hanging there to keep it
from floating
clear away.

It takes many mice to do this
because they are very small
compared
to the moon.

They are careful not to pop the moon balloon
with their tiny claws.

In between songs, they whisper to each other
of micely things.

The moon is unaware of the mice and sails serenely on
about her moonly business,
and the mice,
later on,
will drop to earth one by one
safely
and go back to their ordinary
mouseliness.

By then,
they will have stopped singing.
We will never hear them
because they do not sing down here,
or if they do,
no one knows
about it.

Dreamseed by Maya Chae