before echoed agony
 of terminating torture,

before the wicked
 pulled the body
  from boiling oils,

before the hand
 grabbed the leg
  and plucked it
   from the box,

before the fate
 of having flesh
  ripped from skin
   by the teeth
    of oblivious oralists,

there once was
 a kind mother
  and hard worker
   who was known
    fairly plainly as
     only a chicken.
 

© 2001   David I. Brager

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