Slaughter Of Innocence

The balding man sits compiling his next move

That mortgage hangs around his neck, now feeling like a noose

The new gas bill, oh God, how bad he feels

Those kids he can't reject, his emotional success

He's a man of set opinion; the weight of the world sits in his hands

He just cannot seem to reason so he will never understand

They just won't listen to hardly anything he says

They simply smile politely, then with one accord turn away

A son stands at the pond observing the creation that is nature

Mother prepares dinner, roasting bacon taints the air

Dog sits as master barks, then leaps lovingly into the car

He waves and smiles emotionally, his assurance that they will go far

The stakes rise as each owner unfolds plans, men tempt and bait each other, money exchanges hands

Animal love now snarling hatred, muzzle unlocked hair raised

He smirks from behind the wooden fence and shouts his destitute his praise

Teeth tear, blood splashes the face of a young child playing

She cries out in disapproval but daddy's now immune to what she is saying

Driven mad and into frenzy, limbs torn, skin is shorn

Like sex perverts at their peep show, this is the ultimate in porn

Eyes glare. Beast and master. Animals both, crazed and weary

There can only be one real winner here; the results are now seen clearly

Teeth marks bare where fur once protected, flesh hangs dangling in shreds

Their faces grimace rejected strips of meat exposed, selected

Bloodstains and saliva splatter the fuel of precious life

Master and servant segregate the ritual sacrifice

The sacrifice of innocents who obeyed the spoken law

Tired beyond indurance but the spectators cry for more

Death before dishonor a demand that is so obscene

The men they appraise each other to keep their conscience clean

Laughter hides the guilt they feel at every savage blow

Someone whispers "cruelty" but they don't want to know

The balding man stands silent as slave fights for life

He thinks of all the good things that he has promised to his wife

She caught a glimpse of God through the windscreen of his car

She tried to rationalise her looks but time don't heal the scars

Some vague association she feels with the loser of the stake

She stares into those sightless eyes, what use for heaven sake?

The TV flickers images of the ideals she once knew

The fresh young girls displaying soap to keep us clean and new

She shrugs and folds her arms as he constructs the wooden box

To hold his faded hope that took the heaviest of knocks

Like pissing in the ocean, their options disappear

As they think about the overheads, they know the taste of fear

Kids to feed and clothing they must show how much they care

But how to tell the birthday gift is lying dead out there

What should have paid for birthday cards went on the prime cut beef

Now celebrations of their birth make way for tears of grief

Did only what they thought was best to give some sense of pride

To give the kids a place in life and now the dream has died

And how to show his love for her, now she repels his touch

His remaining sense of manhood kicked away just like a crutch

He promised what he couldn't give, the masters ruling word

Urged the beast to glory, but the servant never heard