Killing the Pig

The Noise

He was pulled out, squealing
an iron cleek sunk in the roof
of his mouth.

(Don't say the are not intelligent:
 they know the hour has come
 and they want none of it:
 they dig their little trotters,
 will not go dumb or singing
 to the slaughter.)

That high pitched final effort,
no single sound could match it -

a big plane roaring off,
a diva soaring towards her last note,
the brain-chilling persistence of an electric saw,
scrap being crushed.

Piercing & absolute,
only high heaven ignores it.

Then a full stop.
Mickey Boyle plants
a solid thump of the mallet
flat between the ears.

Swiftly the knife seeks the throat;
swiftly the other cleavers work
till the carcass is hung up
shining and eviscerated as
a surgeon's coat.

A child is given
the bladder to play with.
But the walls of the farmyard
still hold that scream,
are built around it.