Cat Fight

On a pitch-black night
just a tad less dark
than the darkest of hearts,
the shrills of a wailing babe
pierced the air.

Now a crescendo;
then a fall.

An ominous melange of
growls and hisses.
A lone grunt first,
A spine-chilling cry next.

The shrills of a wailing babe
or so did it seem
till further inquiry revealed
a violent cat fight
on that silent, dark night.

Adult cats
fighting with all their might
in a brutal display of oneupmanship.

More growls,
more grunts,
more hisses,
more shrills
till the noise of two ended
and the voice of one remained.

A deceptive cry.
Was it the victor
now missing his foe?
Or the victim
now bawling in pain?
I knew not.

After the cats had left,
and the noise had gone,
I too went
and lay next to my family
that was fast asleep,
oblivious to the cat fight,
oblivious to the cries.

A Bitter Truth

Thousands of years ago, our
Ancestors' wisdom was at the pinnacle.
Multifarious arts and customs existed,
In the land of hospitality.
Literature thrived and mankind prospered.

Now, my brethren is stranded behind barbwires,
As pitifully as pigeons in a thorny cage.
Dormant is 'the man' in men,
Underneath the smiling countenances of the selfish lot.