the entirety of the
slaughterhouse
has gone transparent
the thud hiss of
the air hammer
rattles the glass walls
as the uneven floors
fully lit by
the warm sunshine
show viscera trails
as hooves slip
on the trail of tears
headed with open eyes
into bovine valhalla

i step lightly
head to tail
ever forward into
the inevitability
of the future certainty
in death’s
cowardly embrace