No One Talks About This by Carl Rakosi

They go in different ways.
One hog is stationed at the far end
of the pen to decoy the others,
the hammer knocks the cow
to his knees,
the sheep goes gentle
and unsuspecting.
Then the chain is locked
around the hind leg
and the floor descends
from under the them.
Head down they hang.
The great drum turns
the helpless objects
and conveys them slowly to the butcher waiting
at his station
for their jugular.

The sheep is stabbed
behind the ear.

Gentle sheep, I am powerless
to mitigate your sorrow.
Men no longer weep
by the rivers of Babylon,
but I will speak for you.
If I forget you, may my eyes
lose their Jerusalem.



from Ere-Voice. New Directions. 1968.