The Mischief Mouse's Winter Ball

On cloudy winter’s night

Fifty mice get dressed
In their best,

 In satin and lace,

Velvet and bows,

Frilly dresses filled with grace,

In groups of twos and threes

They set forth
Heading due north

Beneath the leafless trees,

 To where tiny lanterns

Glow

And a cold wind blows,

And the frozen pond

Shines in dappled light

In the middle of the

Night,

 Mouse high tables
stand beneath a yellow
awning,

 There are acorn pies,

nutseed breads,

Chocolate soup

(dark and white for their delight),

Candle stew, stuffing cakes,

Pillow high

pumpkin pie,

Sponged ham

noodle foodles,

 

Crumble soup,

Liquorice juice,

Peanut ice

Apple bites,

Carrot scones,

 And mushroom frosting
Loaded on Crumble Bumble
Pine nut
Cheese cake

All washed down with

acorn cups

Fill of autumn’s

golden cider,

 Owl swoops overhead without pausing

For a snack,

 As a fox trots

past

on silent paws,

A ginger cat

 takes a nap

on a nearby

window sill,

 In the woods all is tranquil

For the moments

Before the start of the

 Mischief Mouse’s Winter Ball;

 A Mourning Dove sits

upon the old pine tree

She opens the ball

With her throaty call,

And the cardinal that lives in the juniper bush

Begins his wonderful tune,

 A lark commences and the robin sings

A finch lifts his head to join in,

 A Grandfather Mouse strikes a drum,

An old black rat plays the tambourine,

 Upon the ice

 mice begin to dance,

 Young and old,

Quiet and bold

 Everyone swirls beneath a silver sky,

And the people sigh

in their sleep

As they hear the faint beat

of a hundred tiny feet

Dancing and

leaping

kneeling and reeling
Skipping and dipping

 to the tunes
of the crooning
Bumble Bee;

 At dawn’s first light

Mouses must head home,

To feather beds

And fleecy sheets

And dreams of

Dancing feet,

No one knows where

the mice go

 But

If you should look
Beside the ice

You might just see

Crumbs and cores,

Upon the floor,

Small paw prints

in the snow,
An acorn cup,
A piece of crumble bumble
Cake,

 

And perhaps a scarlet button

And a yellow bow,

 And then you'll know
You’re in the very place

 Where fifty mice danced and feasted

 At the Mischief Mouse’s Winter Ball.