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Lab Assistant
Hearthfire from hut shone in dark forest,
Beams amid the black as the shadow shape
Crept in curves, closing in to sweet smell
Of frying fish, rich clotted cream
Inside, intent, curling over cauldron,
Worried witch watches bubbling boil
Of - not food, but potential potion
Needing naught but single scrap
Of minced fresh meat, mammalian,
But low in larder, she growls greenly
'Til shadow shape slinks down through door,
Trim tabby with mouse in mouth
Sets it solemnly at her feet. Pleased, she pounces,
Places it in potion, fire fulminates
She seizes perch from pan, holds hand
Out with offer, tabby takes generous gift...
Lives ever linked, compact complicit.
Beams amid the black as the shadow shape
Crept in curves, closing in to sweet smell
Of frying fish, rich clotted cream
Inside, intent, curling over cauldron,
Worried witch watches bubbling boil
Of - not food, but potential potion
Needing naught but single scrap
Of minced fresh meat, mammalian,
But low in larder, she growls greenly
'Til shadow shape slinks down through door,
Trim tabby with mouse in mouth
Sets it solemnly at her feet. Pleased, she pounces,
Places it in potion, fire fulminates
She seizes perch from pan, holds hand
Out with offer, tabby takes generous gift...
Lives ever linked, compact complicit.
Structurally, no rhyme is used, and I don't think any rhythm is intended. There's a pattern of two alliterations per line, except there isn't really one on the first line of the middle stanza, unless both alliterations are supposed to be on "m" there.
Plot-wise, it seems like the witch is trying to craft a potion, but has had to make do with a fish when she really needs something furry, so when the cat brings her a mouse, she has what she needs, and the cat becomes her familiar, in a nice twist meaning of the prompt. Or maybe the fish was being cooked separately from the potion. Either way, the sentiment works.
My only beef with it is that some of the word choices seem to be in service of the alliteration pattern more than the meaning. Like I don't know what "growls greenly" is supposed to mean. Maybe the archetypal meanings of colors that English teachers usually bring up when reading The Great Gatsby, though I can never remember what anything other than yellow is supposed to represent.
Plot-wise, it seems like the witch is trying to craft a potion, but has had to make do with a fish when she really needs something furry, so when the cat brings her a mouse, she has what she needs, and the cat becomes her familiar, in a nice twist meaning of the prompt. Or maybe the fish was being cooked separately from the potion. Either way, the sentiment works.
My only beef with it is that some of the word choices seem to be in service of the alliteration pattern more than the meaning. Like I don't know what "growls greenly" is supposed to mean. Maybe the archetypal meanings of colors that English teachers usually bring up when reading The Great Gatsby, though I can never remember what anything other than yellow is supposed to represent.