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 the harrow

Sadness

bar

© 2002 Christopher Hivner
All rights reserved.

In the darkness,
so much pain.
Feeling the burden to let
them all live,
but knowing how the sadness
seeps into his bones
when he can't feel the heat from their screams.
Their begging drives him mad.
In the forest, in the darkness,
he cries alone in his despair,
not wanting to let them go
but when the ovens burn
he raises his stiff arm to the host,
damn villain of a play
with 6,000,000 parts.
The sadness lurks in the air like mist.
But the room is soon filled again
and he needs them to fight it,
needs them in the pit
writhing in anticipation,
scratching the skin-caked cement,
blowing kisses of fear to him,
shielding him,
at least for a little while
from the sadness.

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