Burial

We killed you to save a life
a small protective life
it was a fight to the death
intervened by a human and a whip
you stood, half knowing half confused
from behind the electric fence border, maligned by fear
my child sang to you about kindness
I fed you meat, wept for your last night
waiting behind the fence you once patrolled
one shot and you collapsed, heavy in death as in life
the small quiet burial in the poplar forest
followed by a rain storm in the evening
the wind sang you away.