RATS IN A CAGE


There was an experiment once,
Two cages ... one for control,
Where no changes were made
In order to compare with those
Planned for the other.

In each was a population of rats
Raised in comfortable adjustment
To the setting. The test was begun
When more rats were added
To the test cage, just a few.

The dominant male had no trouble
Asserting authority and quashing
Challenge from the new male.
The other mother and two babies
Were not a problem, either.
In time, the new members were
Accepted without conflict and
Merged easily into the population.

As new rats were added to share
The same space and resources,
The old sense of order became strained.
Before adjustment could even begin,
More rats were added to the
Already crowded environment.
There was even less to go around.
What was once easily obtained
Was now a matter of contention ...

Rats fought in the crowded space
For food, water, and mates.
Former conventions of tolerance and
Cooperation were now abandoned.
Fighting was constant, more brutal
Than ordinary conditions would witness.
Animals tore at their neighbors
With a savagery unknown in
Former peaceful times ... it was a
Nihilism born of desperation.

Rivals killed the former leaders,
Though previous contests in the
Normal environment had come to
Only threats or injury.

2


Mothers once fought for their children,
Assuring food or protection
From an early natural impulse.
That impulse was now supplanted by the
Anxiety of fear and self-preservation --
Mothers now ate their children.

In another cage, conditions are
Much the same and approaching flux.
Resources are at a premium for many,
But the head rat gives generously
To other cages and only empty words
For his citizens to eat.

And the politicos tend to their gardens
Of bounty's bloom and rainbow hue,
With every petal paid by the populace
Who can no longer afford
The luxury of flowers ...
And the ranks of homeless and hopeless
Continue to grow across the land,
A burgeoning population of citizen weeds
Paid for by the politicos.

Denmark rots and the mindful king
Makes a dutiful promise to
Change the dressing every four years,
Admiring a new flower every day
To grace the gold and silk lapels.

True to the spirit of change,
The once-damning epithet of "Slick"
Will likely be expressed in a
Future summation as "Willy-nilly"
And the rats will wreck the cages.