When I asked him …

When I asked him what it was like to feed, he said it was rather like

Pouring precious water on salted earth, where it could quench

Drought-ridden soil, but no support anything living …

Nothing would ever grow and the water-bearer

Would find no joy in giving.

When I asked him what it was like to die, he described

An echoing stillness devoid of feeling

Or emotion – but then, he had not truly died,

So what could he say about that notion?

And when I asked whether immortality

Was worth it all, he said it would be better to accept

Oblivion than to live out his days like a little

Mouse, trapped forever in a maze…

…without ever finding the cheese.