In high school, my form room was in rural science
Penned lonely lambs and orphaned piglets
Listening to Radio Four, next door, a’ squealing
Rows of jars of pickled baby animals
Broken hearts, mute organs and parts
You know… blood stains on the ceiling
By then, the discipline had gone into a spin
From science to stock-tech for farmers
Then splat, a wuzzle hit me, in my mind’s eye
We didn’t think meat fights would harm us
Well, kids will be kids, so whaddya expect
Already a fat veggie, I was the perfect… target
I still picture, that one fetal hedgehog by my desk
Prepared years before, for a dissection, empirical
Lil’ ‘Hoggy’, open eyes, stale pink feathery prickles
A pest, to detest, “NO SIR! That thing’s a bloody miracle!”
Detention! Good god! It’s not me who’s odd
“You’re unfit to teach kids… Killer’ Kane”
I smashed all the jars, into the sink
Liberated the spent souls, down the drain
Cruel man, I thought
Then cruel world, distraught
Time to abort?
But then a thought….
I chanced to monitor…
Ten thermometers
Temperatures rising, a thousand degrees
And I flee
His brandy flask, now orbiting with mercury
Straight through your body it will pass
Slicing your organs, taking your life
Out, through your ass
Our futures would have been completely different
Had I frozen, chilled, or just coldly played along
But I bottled it, and snuck back in
To hide the murderous flask…
But it… had already gone
In any other many world
That single, split-decision
Be it force-fed, or free-willed
Would have decommissioned all cognition