The Mouse's Ball

Twice tonight, and thrice before
I had reason to take score
of all the mice beneath my bed,
across my pillow, behind my head!

Try as I might, I've yet to learn
the purpose of this danz nocturne.
The rodents twirl, cavort, and leap.
This must needs end; I need my sleep!

“We shall play, and we shall dance,”
squeaked a mouse in mid-prance.
“We’ve the run of the whole house,”
said to the mouse the mouse’s spouse.

“Oh, do you now, well then see here.
There are some rules I must make clear.
The dancing may commence at one,
but come eleven it must done!”

“But at eleven is when we wake!”
The mouse sipped tea and ate some cake.
“This sounds to us not fair at all!
Our steps need work before the ball.”

“Before the ball? And what is that?”
I began to think about a cat.
“The Mouse’s Ball, you silly twit!”
The mouse pulled from his fur a nit.

“A Mouse’s Ball? That will not do!”
I got up from bed to grab a shoe.
The mice ran here and then ran there.
I turned around, they were no where.

A Mouse’s Ball, of all the cheek!
I was aghast, I could not speak.
I knew there’d be no sleep tonight.
A mouse’s ball, what a fright!

“We beg you, sir, to be so kind.
Let us explain and speak our mind.
My wife and I must dance and play
For we’ve a newborn on the way.

"Our baby comes before the fall.
We must attend the Mouse’s Ball.
The judges of the ball decide
where every couple shall reside.

“We beg you, sir, take no offense.
We mean this in the kindest sense.
A more slobbish man than you, we think,
has never supped or took a drink.

“This flat, it is a mouse’s heaven,
and our newest will make number seven.
This is the house that we must need,
if our whole family we are to feed.

“We love you dearly, for you are kind.
You leave out bread and apple rind.
You never wash out any dishes.
You have answered all our wishes!

“So we must dance, and dance our best,
to keep our house behind the chest.
We ask you for your help tonight,
and pray you come to see the light.

I did feel pity for their plea
as they looked up from bended knee.
Their little hands were clutched so tight.
How could I ignore their plight?

“In good conscience, I cannot
remove your family from this plot.
So dance and dance and dance some more,
upon the bed, across the floor.”

“One day my maker I will face,
and I would fear to fall from grace
for having shown no charity
to those who would depend on me.”