i first encountered death at midnight

stumbling through the creaking pines

needles crackling under my bare feet

there lay the fallen rabbit, lit by the moon

its fur matted and stomach bloated

finally, i met death before my parents

could cut me off and sanitise the area

i poked and prodded with a stick purloined

from the tree where my urine was drying

and uncovered its silken secrets, turned over

to find the obscene, throbbing coat of maggots

hiding underneath, silently working away

i woke the camp with my scream and dreamt

that night of nothing else