Rats are not dumb.

They race into sewage tunnels

to escape ominous predators

lurking in the backstreets

like cursed shadows of death;

they nudge and bite and trip

and screech and claw at each other

in an ugly frenzy that ends

in a mutilated body

on a bad day.

They race

only to make sure

it’s not theirs.

What do you race for?