ROADKILL

Feathers fluttered
A shocked Samaritan stuttered
Stopped and stumbled too late
High impact
the brake
Never applied in time
Road-kill
A furry blood spill
In the name of the motor car
Animals dead
row upon row
Stretch in gutters far
Away
The road-kill creatures
Desiccated features
A sideways stare
Blank, by the road there
A cold parcel, sank our heart
I saw eye socket pecked-
There’s nothing now
just solar flecks of plumage
As old under sun the carcass dried
inquisitive worms
Bored they pried
And the downpour tried
To wash it away
But bones reluctantly stay
A skeletal dead give away
To the once beautiful creature
We killed


© Peter Crompton October 2007

I think Picasso saw roadkill and created cubism. These are beautiful lines soaked in remorse and sadness and yet the need to observe-- study minutely -- the pitiful remains. Visceral and very moving, Pete.