They Watched

First published in Musings, Iliad Press, 1995

The deaths meant nothing to them.
They just stood there
As the pale bodies twisted and writhed
In the ditch.
They watched
As the narrow bones poked through the skin
And blood trickled from a thousand wounds
Until a river of blood flowed at their feet.
They watched
As the depleted bodies mouthed silent screams
From throats that had been broken.
They watched
As more fell in
And crushed those below,
Muffling the sound of crunching bone
And bursting flesh
With their own dying bodies.
They stood there
And watched
And cursed those who died
And drank
The flame.