A crow pecks the eyes out
of a sheep whose head is caught in a wire mesh fence.
A fox bites into a housecat's tender nape,
breaking its neck.
A spider injects paralytic venom into a moth
before encasing it in webbing and eating it alive.
When did we become so cruel?
At least spiders don't force their prey
to break down crying on the food bank floor.
At least crows look their victims in the eye.
Is this the Human Nature?
What sick, toxic gene pool did it crawl out of?
If—Heaven forbid—the Human were manufactured
it would have to be outlawed and annihilated at once
as a crime against nature.
And what a heartless joke
that the doe, the rabbit, the trembling field mouse
must walk down the high street,
go within striking distance of the Human,
and ask it for A Young Person's Day Ticket, Please.