PREPARATION FOR VIOLENCE
As the procession moves, some are falling so as
time goes on, fewer are
Every other animal picks its way through the
grass, trying not to touch the sharp broken glass that is scattered amongst the
green
Most have made it to the concrete that surrounds the lake in
the hospital grounds
. 
They all lie huddled together in death Their fur is blowing the wrong way
with cold noses and small paws just formed pulled to their chests their lips are raised to signal their expectation of an attack
They have hunted
yet hopeful faces
The tall majestic statues of trees
that surround
are shivering
themselves
shedding leaves
from their trembling branches
which are like arms
held out by a witness
The animal makes a sound of pain and the others stop for a moment to look back at it.
There is
pain etched on his face
that makes it almost an etching,
but one drawn with
quick pronounced lines
as though God could not be bothered
it came and it was nothing in the end(very small indeed)
It collapses exhausted back in the palm of his dirtied hand
the old man
takes time to prepare his answercoughs to clear his throat,
pushing his black curls back with one hand
away from his eyes
which are shimmering
as he begins to
stammer
The birds seem to be sad
(there he is)
Hallucinating
under the light of the moon,
skin so frail that blood seems to pass straight through,
just roads conjoined filled with the dirty traffic of cells
skin so frail that blood seems to pass straight through,
just roads conjoined filled with the dirty traffic of cells
Loud crashing sounds to match the
thunder
Through the hospital doors
people come
all starched white smiles glinting white
Their faces reflect the stupidity of the
night
the senseless silence of surrounding woods
They come all pitterpatter feet
in the
pitterpatter rain
open their mouths - to emit siren sounds -
The cultured
have come to pay their respects early
There is no chance that they will somehow drag it on with them, not with its broken legs scraping the ground behind it anyway.
Every other animal picks its way through the grass, trying not to touch the sharp broken glas
