Rat-a-tat, Rat-a tat-tat,
the mice crawl through the walls

You hear them best when lights are low,
the cat still yet to call

Rat-a-tat, Rat-a-tat-tat,
straight up and overhead

The world they know—the world you know,
conjoined but never bred

Rat-a-tat, Rat-a-tat-tat,
your solitude a ruse

What lies inside beyond plain sight
—a kinship to bemuse

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2020)