How much more entertaining

to slowly the strangle the sleepless Goose

that laid Golden Eggs, than to remove its head

from its neck and find the plump belly only contains

unspent grit and the remains of the previous day’s feed.

 

By placing an ever tighter grip with one hand

around the stout, formally resolute bird’s feathery neck,

and in the other

the sense of the caring fatherly figure protecting the Goose

from the ravenous wolf, forever telling the scared bird stories

of wolves and fox with mange in their fur and steel

in their teeth,

Farmer George controls by fear that in which makes him rich.

 

The Goose though is only kept alive by sheer force of will,

imposed by a farmer that doesn’t truly care about his charge

and whom in the end will beat the bird

with an iron pole and kick its deceased body shitless

around the farmyard as a warning to the noble horse

and the grunting savage pig.

The carcass of the Goose no longer fit for the dinner table

and the wolves and foxes sniff with disdain at its rotting carcass,

the only thing left of worth are the feathers

to stuff into a pillow slip for the Farmer to cut his throat upon.

 

Ian D. Hall 2015.