The Mouse and The Elephant
by alex-crilly-mckean
Out of darkness, crept the little white mouse,
whose beady eyes did squint in the sunlight.
Across the blood red savannah did it crawl,
only to stop in the presence of a giant shadow.
With fear flowing through its little red heart,
it gazed up at the frame of the mighty elephant.
None was more feared than the mighty elephant,
none feared it more than the little white mouse,
who was smaller than the elephant’s own heart.
It stood tall and proud under the blistering sunlight,
casting across the savannah its menacing shadow,
the sun’s eternal gaze forcing the dark to crawl.
Petrified, it could no longer find the will to crawl,
peering up in fear at the large grey elephant,
who was content to simply cast its large shadow,
the dense dark swallowing the little white mouse,
darkness so dense it could withstand the sunlight.
Nothing pounded faster than the mouse’s heart.
Loud and heavy was the elephant’s heart,
its design meant that it had no need to crawl,
just as it soaked in all of the leftover sunlight.
There was nothing to fear, not for the elephant.
That was when its grey eyes looked at the mouse,
a little white mouse that was standing in its shadow.
It was so small, like it was swimming in its shadow,
yet for some strange reason it sent fear through its heart,
nothing else filled it with more dread that the mouse,
it suddenly wanted to fall to the savannah floor and crawl
away from such a beast that would terrify an elephant,
a beast that cannot be touched even by the sunlight.
The elephant stood frozen, cold as ice, even in the sunlight.
Beady eyes stared up as it floated amongst its shadow,
every twitch of its nose sent fear through the elephant,
every blink caused absolute terror to enter its heart.
How could this be? It was so small and reduced to a crawl,
yet the mighty elephant was terrified of the little mouse.
The elephant shrieks, and flees into the sunlight.
The mouse scuttles forward, listening to its beating heart.
No need to crawl, just to cast a shadow.