Rats

It was 3am and the streets of the city
Were soaked by the deluge of rain
The neon and sodium lights reflected brightly from the polished pavements
With no movement save that of the rain itself
And the alternating colours of the traffic light
The streets were silent -
And then the rats came

They came from the sewers that overflowed
With the increasing demands of the flood -
Out of the drains from all sides they came in their twos and threes
Two and three hundreds, two and three thousands until
The alleys and paths, the bridges and streets
The main thoroughfares and the precincts
All were filled with the scurrying of feet
And the dull sound of the rain hammering
Upon the shining black backs of the teeming refugees -

On and on they came to take shelter and to feed
At the feet of Christ who hung upon the cross
Outside the Church of the Sacred Heart in the centre of the City's square;
And here in their hundreds of thousands they ate
And having done so slipped away into the night
From whence they had come -

By morning, the waters had subsided
As had the tide of rats, and the centre of the city was unchanged;
Unchanged except to those whose early journey
Took them past the Church of the Sacred Heart
And who noticed in passing that the eyes of the hanging Christ
Now looked to the darkened sky and the feet were gone…