listen and read

Did J.S. Bach
have a cat like mine?
Did he write her a song
with a mouse inked in,

curled up in a staff,
nibbling on a note,
a cheese with a dot
a mouse could bite off?

Cat smells mouse
in the music’s house,
and the chase begins—
up and down the

scale, from the
highest to the lowest
chord on the keyboard.
And pounce!

Cat leaps. Bach’s pen
stops the song.
Cat sits down.
Mouse is gone.