Where am I?
What is that sound?
What covers my eye?
Why am I upside-down?
What was that?
Did you not hear?
I’m hung up like a bat;
Into my head flows fear.
Let me try to feel my way,
Remember why I’m here now-
Is it night outside or is it day?!
I must escape: I must find out how.
What is that breeze?
Has a door opened nearby?
I shift a little, ill at ease,
Swinging from hooks up high.
I try to call, to try and shout,
I try to open my lungs, to scream,
But no sound comes out!
Please let this be a dream.
I try to move about and flail,
To catch onto a surface.
Someone enjoys seeing me fail-
I can feel the joy on their face.
“Are you having fun?”
They ask, through sinister laughter,
“You’re the chosen one,
You’ll have fun alright. After….”
After what?! I needed to know
But my curiosity died soon
For my eyes could see a harsh glow:
Rough like a lamp, bright like the moon.
“Why don’t you choose,”
They laugh as they ask,
“Which tool should I use?
Which will suit this task?”
They laugh once more,
Their villainy shines through;
Have I heard it before?
Was this someone I knew?
I tried to find my voice
And reached for my throat:
Slashed! I could make no noise!
Watching, the fiend started to gloat.
“Oh! I remember now,
Yes, this may sound odd:
Even if you play along, somehow,
Desist! I’ve cut your vocal chords!”
They walked away from me;
I tried to move my legs, but in vain,
For I looked to where used to be knees. Only, now, I’d never see my feet again!
As my eyes started to clear,
I attempted to look around-
Although still filled with fear-
I surveyed the room, upside-down.
A bright glint up ahead
On a long jagged blade;
Will they stop when I’m dead?
Dead in this hell they have made?
They turn, blade in one hand,
A smile glisten upon their teeth.
“Why don’t I show you what I planned?
And what I did with your feet?”
With a flourish of their free hand,
They lifted the lid of a nearby tray;
Laid out neatly, decorated and grand
Was a repugnant artistic display.
O! What a fiend! What a wretch!
Is there no god now, whom I can beg?!
Feeling sickness rise, I tried not to retch;
On the platter were my two severed legs.
“Your feet tasted quite good,”
They said with a devilish smile,
“Not everyone can make it as food,
Nothing tasted this good in a while!”
They then grabbed my palms,
To stop me from singing,
“I’d like to take your arms!”
They said and began singing.
It was then that it dawned;
It was then I realised!
This monster and I shared no bond!
I helped with their car- a trap they devised.
As if reading my mind,
They said to me, grinning,
“It was your kindness, you’ll find,
That brought you here: you were a-sinning!
“Your desire to help a stranger-
Who could well have been your doom-
That is, you see, the real, true danger!
Not anything you’ll see in my room!”
Without giving me time
To process this thought,
They began their next crime:
A new wave of agony that brought!
The only reprieve-
Dare I use that word-
Was that it was all rather brief
And my screams were unheard.
I sobbed quietly in pain,
For not a sound could be raised,
They grabbed the other hand, sawing again;
They bowed, accepting imaginary praise.
They washed the severed hands
And wrapped around the stumps
Some cloths secured with bands;
I had now two bleeding lumps.
“I think I’m done for today,
But before I leave, look around!”
I looked around in every way,
And saw others, hung upside-down.
“You may think me a ghoul,
A villain, an unfeeling man;
You’d do this, too, with the right tools;
I’m doing this to you, just because I can!”
The tears came freely now,
For they, only them, were still mine;
That emotion alone they did allow:
This sorrow was somehow fine.
I thought, for a moment then,
Of the billions of animals killed this way:
Pigs, cows, goats, fish, hens-
Strung up and murdered, millions each day!
I thought they’d leave me so,
Alone in this dungeon in the city.
They turned to look at me, eyes aglow,
And for a moment, I thought I saw pity.
I thought they would free me,
And let me into the light,
(As ridiculous as that may seem to be!)
I thought I’d see the stars at night!
I thought all these things
As they walked back to me,
But they stabbed me instead! It stings!
Where did it come from? I couldn’t see.
They left me alone, bleeding to death,
And all I heard was a blood-dripping sound.
I wept futile tears with my last breath;
That’s how I died, in this hell upside-down.