Kittens in a Basket

Mack Hall, HSG
mhall46184@aol.com

Kittens in a Basket

For Sarah

Three kittens in a basket squirm and mew,
Small carnivores in training ‘gainst the day
When they’ll stalk crickets through the morning dew,
Progressing thence to mice and larger prey

For now they attack the basket and each other,

Patrol the jungle of an old bath towel,
Torment the dachshund and their own poor mother,
And, being cats, rehearse a high-pitched yowl

Their eyes are wide, their teeth are sharp, their fur

Is softer than a dream of Eden’s dawn
They signal naptime with a three-cats purr,
And so dismiss me with a gentle yawn

Someday wild hunting will be their great art;

The only thing they capture now is my heart.