Bread of Heaven

Sickly old neighbour, past his use-by,
throws mouldy slices of bread from
his balcony ‘for the birds’. These land
on the ground floor in front of my door,
which undoubtedly delight nightshift
rats that – despite windfall – don’t thank
any rat god because they are atheists.
Rats have never believed in gods,
do not even debate the subject
in their thriving rat netherworld.
Still, there rains that mysterious
yummy bread from above.
Another neighbour has two efficient
cats that, despite being well fed,
prey on those rats. Cats do not even
sniff greenish bread or eat the meaty
corpses that they deposit just outside
my insecurity door. Like the rats
that they murder and rhyme with,
cats are also atheists.

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Allan Lake, originally from Canada, has lived on Cape Breton Island, Ibiza, Tasmania, Sicily and Melbourne. His latest chapbook of poems, My Photos of Sicily, was published by Ginninderra Press. Such journals as The Hong Kong Review, The American Writers Review, Tokyo Poetry Journal, The Antigonish Review, New Philosopher and The Fabians Review have published his poems. 

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