A Meeting of the Minds

A Poem

Photo by Jean-Louis Aubert on Unsplash

bitter hubris, oh,
where have you gone?

i look for you at every end —
down the hallway
and towards the beginning
of the maze.

but everything is dark —
as dark as pitch,
as black as night —
and i know there’s little

to be done for how i feel right now.

they called me lady,
and i thought that meant enough —
but the knights had their allegiances
born from darker times indeed.

i’m alone, cast out from the herd,
and i wander like a lost child —
until i hear it,
the soft clamor of paws.

from the nearest hedge
jumps a cat
as sleek as a tiger
and lithe as a panther

and in its small maw
is a wriggling mouse —
which it drops to the ground,
looking pleased with itself.