the neighborhood cats
sneak through the brush
every night hunting
anything they can take

in their practiced silence
they have no need to lie
   (but they would)
to get what they want
which they don't even know
until a vulnerable target
appears within their sights

yet strangely
i'm grateful
for the rats
have their own
wicked sides

and the rats, clumsy
in their obvious plans
are everywhere you look
quite unlike the cats