Author Information
Repayment
The date is set, authorities agreed-
And trust “live” viewing “meets the urgent need”
Of stricken relatives who’ll watch this May
The death-blow dealt toTimothy McVeigh.
Close-circuit viewing--justices believe
Will sooth the grief of friend and relative;
What comfort, satisfaction can it be
To watch full-view the ultimate penalty?
Dark Middle-Ages had their roll-drums ring,
Announce a hanging, - “Come all! - watch him swing”
This modern age provides thick plexiglass,
Which does not serve to render it less crass.
Closed-Circuit cast, the “process“. is for now-
But hot debates assure us that the show
Will soon be offered us at dinner table-
Through network viewing or extended cable.
We may -if need be -even take a break
From viewing, lest we burn a juicy steak;
Deluded viewers think they will derive
The needed comfort to go on with life.
The question though is: - will it truly sooth
The simmering ache, - or open avenues
For unknown feelings of much more distress
From which it could be to hard to convalesce!
Raw circuses,- of heathen Rome of yore
Rose from the dead, and knock on our door.
Too dull to feel unease, awe, or distress,
The yearning grows for “Bread and Circuses“!
Rome fell, we know, - historiographers say
There was - they wrote - “societal decay”-
Its culture crumbled and was soon replaced
By alien folk that had superior taste.-
With the impressive showing done and over-
The sated weary viewers might discover
That clerk and housewife, socialite or slut
Had viewed the repayment of smut with smut.
