I found a mouse alive this morning, caught within a trap
I'd laid. I would have run the risk of being bitten if I'd
Set it free. If it was not too badly injured, I'd have watched
It run away, and later may have found it, dead or living,
In that very trap, as mice return to where they've gone.
I chose to leave it in the trap, and put it outside on the porch
Where shock and cold were sure to kill it. Hours later, it
Was dead. All creatures' lives are without purpose. All,
At last, come to an end. So it was for that poor mouse,
And it will be for me.