A Sewer-Rat

When a sewer-rat
in an unexpected flash
shot into the blinding glare
of street lights,
my wife,
her head bursting
with rodent-pest statistics,
said matter of factly,
“It must be killed!”

Yet,
When a pack of street urchins
hunted it aground
under a hail of vicious kicks
and a rain of boulder-missiles,
she turned in disgust.

“What if giants hunted a man like that?”