The rat woke up with a feeling
That all was not right with the world
An unease sensed deep in his body
An aversion that slowly uncurled
A displacement from his surroundings
Hints of deja-vu in reverse 
A knowing that staying this path
Would lead to something worse

He tried to explain his sensations
To the rats in charge of the pack
Something is wrong, he told them
The edges are fading to black
We’re losing what can’t be returned
Once lost it may never come back

They scoffed at the rats baseless worries
We have food aplenty 
We are all living like kings
We have all we need in abundance
There’s no reason we should change a thing

Yet the feeling within persisted
Gnawing and tugging away
Try as he might to resist it
The rat knew this was not the way
More rats every day were dying
Some went slowly to death and some quick
Still most in the pack refused to look
At the thing that was making them sick

When the rat could watch no longer
He left the colony alone
Found shade beneath an ancient tree
Here he set up home
Far from the race run by peer and elder
Close to a source that was fresh and clean
Soon others began to join him
At first a trickle and then a stream

They felt the same pull that he did
Though none could put it into thought
Accepting the truth of this wisdom
Innate, but never spoken or taught
The rats grew ears to hear the silence
Their eyes turned to what is not seen
More questions abounded than answers
Soft sighs from the space in between 

The wrongness they felt had receded
Depths of knowing replacing their doubt
The rat fell asleep with a sense of fulfilment 
The pack content from the inside out

My daughter saw two enormous rats on a path the other day and said, ‘look Mummy, they’re adorable.’ And so they were, I’m grateful to her for noticing.