THE FOREST GLADE (EXECUTION GROUND).



It always seems so peaceful
in the spring
as the forest awakes
to the birdsong above us
where foxes and rabbits
scavenge for morsels
to make their lives easier
while we
cocooned in our beds
of earth, clay and leaf
lie in perpetual darkness
abandoned by all
save the worms.

No stone marks our passing
in the quiet of that forest glade
that execution ground
where we were taken so long ago
male and female and child alike
forced to kneel before the officers
who gave the order to their soldiers
to cut our throats with their long knives
slumping forward
our blood gushes out
to water the land
we once called our own
until
one by one
the earth reclaims us all
and we lay in peace.