Who flees from bounding feet
Glancing back
At the rifles’ dance
And stumbling through the air
Bite at life with sweaty beak
Just to have it—
Wrenched away!
By a gunshot from the hunters
Then smoke and feathers
And blood
A fading sound of thunderclap
Then a fall to dirt and dust
Merry are the feasting men
Who sup on roasted bird
Flesh on wooden table
A meal of victory!
But watch them walk in later days
The flapping forms
Of frightened souls
Which fate will come to fetch—
With a flash of lightning
Or is it
Gunshot—from the sky?
To squirm in nets of Judgment
With a sentence of vapor—and Truth
They’ll recall the clamor of sudden death—
How familiar the sound!
Then retire to giant ovens
And fall to the wretched plates
Of a party of demons and of gods
Who make a meal—of men!



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