Small Memoriam - edit

[wasellajam]

edit;


Can anyone feel such sincere regret
for acts which cannot be undone and yet
on balance had to be accomplished?  Pet
he was not, just a common long-tailed mouse
who got inside somehow...  but in my house
that smallest presence made me feel a louse
for plotting his demise.  He’d sit and view
computer movies ‘til I saw him, too,
then run when noticed.  Though I had a few
ideas how to catch him, nothing worked–
he’d lick the bait from traps but never jerked
them hard enough to trigger.  Still he lurked:
declined a private room (my live-catch trap),
approved noir cinema, left tiny crap
on pantry floors, chewed through chips’ Mylar wrap...

I see him from the corner of my eye–
his ghost, it must be, mouse that had to die.
And that is best for him and me, I lie.

---

Thanks to @brynmawr1 for the critique and suggestions.  I've tried to implement them as best I can - including not hitting the reader over the head with the fact that I got him in the eind.  (The business with the live trap is real - I thought at the time, looking at the clanky metal thing, "I'm giving him his own @#$% room!")

Hi, duke, beautiful job with the rhyme here, really well done and inspiring. Strong edit, I like the addition of private room but wonder if you could slip in "of" before (my live-catch trap) and drop the parentheses.

A fan of this one, thanks for posting it.