It was not for the squeamish!

                                                                                           Attribution: Mahbob Yusof
Image: Albino Burmese Python at Zoo Negara (here)

It laid in there motionless
Not the slightest movement
It seemed formidable and menacing
In its own quiet way
A slight odor was detected
The floor surface of the cage was wet
Perhaps contributing to the smell
It did not seem to bother
With so many pairs of eyes
Observing and wondering
More out of curiosity
For it was quite rare
To see an albino snake
Despite being colorful
It was still not for the squeamish

But it was still not for the weak hearted
who empathized with its fate
This was not  in reference to the snake though
But rather a little mouse with subdued eyes

Both the snake and the mouse
Were occupying  the same cage
Not overly excited of each other
But it was co-existence of sorts
The snake leisurely bidding its time
And the mouse in the same spot
For the past few hours and seen
To be shivering to no end
Knowing naturally by instinct
It owed its life to the snake
At the snake’s own leisure and pleasure

Note: Hank checked in at a hotel in Jakarta
years ago and spied upon an albino snake
in a cage together with the condemned mouse
It was at one corner at the reception lobby
Most probably it was a ‘prop’ to attract customers
Plainly a sick marketing ploy

There could have been other mice which went
along the same road in the cage before the current one
Laws on cruelty to animals obviously were lax
perhaps not enforced strictly or were even absent

For Poets United's Mid-week Motif - World Snake Day