Just one fight and two deaths

With tears in my eyes
and a lump in my throat
I sit here today
hearing some gloat
as a great soul is
slaughtered
and falls to the ground
and listen dear friends
did you hear my heart pound

a calf is let loose
in a field where’s there’s grass
he observes, with his nerves
the freshness, to pass
but its not easy
for ruminants do
love the sweet taste
which is why we chew

and there is such energy
watch as he leaps
kicks his back legs up
its now how he reaps
the joy of the sunshine
the taste of the green
the breeze in his eyes
from the whole lovely scene

as the years pass
he learns
his confidence grows
his muscles are bigger
the blood in him flows
he watches the seasons
he sucks in the sights
the woods and the trees
he is reaching new heights

his existence fulfilling
expectations within
he is learning to love
which does underpin
all his emotions
the friendships he makes
he is whole in his outlook
and great strides he takes

but little does he know
the freedom enjoyed
is short lived
for deep in his soul
he’s employed
to be in,the arena
the blood and the guts
the screams of the horses
those sweet silent mutts

clad in their armour
ridden by clowns
with their haughty clothing
and the music that drowns
out their true existence
entrance the Bull
bold and experienced
with his great pull

the audience gasp
as he snorts and all see
his eyes are as bright
as eyes ever could be
and there perched before him
a peacock in gold
prancing about with a cape
he’s been sold
a dancer of sorts
a priggish young soul
who seems to imagine
that he’s in control

the bull is immense
a great muscular beast
with memories going back
to that very first feast
that verdant green succulent grass
he can taste
and now here before him
a youth seems shame faced

an ugly deceiver
with swords of bright steel
reflections of sunlight
of what does reveal
a lust for the limelight
the cry of the crowd
the ego is rattled
the mask and the shroud

the bull fights his corner
he wants so much to
pin this young blighter
and tear him into
but he moves like a branch
in the wind and its hard
to pin him down
and even knock him off guard

anger aforethought
as swords stick his back
the fight is now on
and there is lots of flack
blood is outpouring
the pains searing heat
the agony surfaces
and does unseat

the courage within him
as breaths become short
the cry of the banshee
was what he had thought
more swords and more pikes
rip into him, he
realises his end
may now have to be

saliva his spittle his life force
his pain
down on one knee
he is going insane
with the heat with the agony
and loss of blood
really he’s drowning
now in his own flood

he catches the peacock
his horns they do rip
into this gyrating puppet
a slip
of a boy really tossed like a doll
in the air
the cries of the crowd
in his throes, he can share

some of my pain
some of my woe
as he hits the arena
I feel that glow
a sensation perhaps
but a reason to be
another sword forced
very deep into me

I am lost
to the world
I am lost I am gone
but with his dying breath
he whispers upon
my failing ear
pardon dear friend
pardon me
and that message did send

a flutter into me
for others who come
and suffer what I have
and there will be some
but hopefully soon
less and less
as the light
leaves my dear being
my final flight

into the world where all bulls
do go
I look back and see
that body below
torn open and broken
painful and lost
and that bloodied arena
and the great cost