Bird's Eye View I

Every night,
I am unwilling witness
to a gruesome massacre:
A Dance of Death, I watch
from the confines of my cell.
I cannot tell
which one of us
will be executed tonight.
The uncertainty is already killing me.

The executioner treads in,
dressed entirely in black plus a mask-
He knows it's going to be a messy task.
He has a scythe in one hand, and
a gun in another. He looks
like the Reaper Himself.
I close my eyes, praying
it would make him disappear;
but I can still hear
his menacing footsteps near.
I close my ears- still,
I can smell
the blood from last night's kill,
and I know-
he's bang in front of my cell.

The cell door opened with a clang;
He grabbed my cellmate by his scruff
and slammed the door back shut.
I opened my eyes: I'd had enough
of escaping Reality.
Tonight, I'd see the execution for myself.

He was fed one last meal,
So he wouldn't die hungry-
So his weight increased.
His legs were tied,
So he wouldn't struggle-
Not too much, at least.
And then he was stunned
by an electric gun,
and next moment, the scythe came down
and slashed his carotid arteries open.
With one dexterous motion, he was turned
from a chicken to just chicken.

Then his lifeless body was hung up
with my other butchered brethren,
Up on the wall for display,
like prized game-prey, for the next day,
the carnivores would come
and buy my brothers' corpses
for 100 rupees a kilo


[You guessed it: I'm vegetarian. I won't bite your head off for not being one.]