by Cirila Toplak

Every spotted road kill stops my random thoughts
And makes me shiver

How cold it must have been to die alone like that
How warm and soft that fragile body was
When miracle of life was still in there
What endless love resided in their eyes
So thankful for the slightest care

Then I remember

How vulnerable I felt when I ventured a few steps
Along the highway
Trucks speeding by like howling monsters

The graceful deer
I couldn’t let become a smear
How heavy was the corpse I trailed to the ditch
By fur so long and rich
Yet life inside so frail

Holding my puppy’s broken body
In a dim lit alley
His heart still beating
Then, at a random beat I didn’t choose
Just witnessed
It stopped forever
I only knew it was the last a second later
Because none followed
So this is Death
No less reversible than time

Then I say a silent pray for the lonely heap
Far from my eyes by then yet tormenting my brain
And for that little girl or boy weeping in the dark
Their angel hearts falling apart with pain
Because beloved friend did not come home

I praise the universal consciousness
For opening wide the doors of heaven
Where all the animals must end
I need that thought to stand the road kills

I wish the poor unlucky being
To be reborn as my pet
And I swear yet again
I’ll never have to regret
For being a murderer myself

Published in: 33 Ounces of Something by Cirila T.
Maribor, Slovenia: Locutio.
Copyright Cirila Toplak, 2011