Bull Song
For me there was no audience
no brass music either,
only wet dust, the cheers
buzzing at me like flies,
like flies roaring.
I stood dizzied
with sun and anger,
neck muscle cut,
blood falling from the gouged shoulder.
Who brought me here
to fight against walls and blankets
and the gods with sinews of red and silver
who flutter and evade?
I turn, and my horns
gore blackness.
A mistake, to have shut myself
in this cask skin,
four legs thrust out like posts.
I should have remained grass.
The flies rise and settle.
I exist, dragged, a bale
of lump flesh.
The gods are awarded
the useless parts of my body.
For them this finish,
this death of mine is a game:
not the fact or act
but the grace with which they disguise it
justifies them.
by Margaret Atwood