Refraction.

If The Man Is The Cat.

If he is the man, I am the mouse -
To any man, anybody who is not a man
Is a mouse: a lesser creature,
Whose silence is required for survival,
And yet still considered to be a fault.

If the man is the cat, I remain the mouse.
What value could a cat attribute to a mouse?
I become the plaything, the dispensable, the object,
The thing to be devoured in one moment,
And the thing forgotten in the next.

If the cat catches the mouse, that's simply what cats do.
If the mouse is caught by the cat,
Then it should have been faster, stealthier, quieter -
Otherwise, what did it expect?
Besides, who cares about the mouse?

If the mouse only exists to please the cat,
The mouse - independent from the cat -
Is worthless. Yet, if that is true,
Why do mice live and breathe?
Why do they have friends or a place to call home?

If the home of the mouse is a hole in the wall,
And the wall is a part of the house that
The cat calls home, does the mouse own anything at all?
If she did, was it not taken when the cat moved in?
Was she given a choice, or just given away?

If the mouse were to run, she would be chased;
If the cat were to leave, she would be disgraced,
As the purpose that was thrusted upon her
Would suddenly be stripped away.
Once again, the mouse is trapped.

If the trap was made from the bones of mice
Who'd long since passed, assembled by the cats
Of yesteryear, but maintained but the cats of today,
The mouse would know that her fears made sense;
That she'd be neither the first nor the last.

If the man is the cat, then anybody who is not a man
Is the mouse.
It is not easy to be the mouse,
But the mouse is clever, she is agile and she is kind:
The mouse is important, irrespective of the cat.