The Dead Baby Factory
I remember how easily you laughed.
You laughed at the drop of a hat.
You laughed at the slightest thing.
When I was 49 and you were nine.
The TV groaned as usual.
The newscaster spoke of tragedy.
The death of many infants:
A pharmaceutical error
In quality control.
The TV voice
Repeated ad infinitum:
Dead babies....
...Babies dead
....Babies died
...Dying
You starred blankly,
Immune to daily tragedy
Frankly, in a trance.
But I began to sing a silly song,
and dance a senseless dance:
"Oh, the dead baby factory,
Crunch those babies,
Grind them up,
Squish them,
Scrunch them..."
You laughed until you cried.
You rolled upon the floor
Beyond control.
Life is senseless.
We are senseless too.
We laughed ourselves senseless.
The more I sang and danced
The more you laughed.
Because you laughed,
I sang and danced all the more.
You doubled over
Rolling on the floor.
Laughter, song and dance
Until you pee your pants.
Human life IS, in reality,
A "Dead Baby Factory",
Except they age the product
Until it's slightly elderly.
With Ernest and Julio Gallo
We can say:
"We sell no wine before its time."
But today we are having a special:
Buy one baby,
Get two free.
The shortest verse in Scripture:
"Jesus wept."
And, as we danced and sang,
Those babies resurrect
And sing and dance with us
Clapping and keeping time.
Macabre or debonheur?
I guess you had to be there!
The tragic and comic blur.
And there we were,
Lost in a moment of childhood,
Forever found,
Throwing humor
Against horror
And winning,
Sartrean humor
Against the anguish
Of senseless existence.
And there we ever are
In that lost and found collection
Realm of the trans-eternal
Moment of recollection
In life's department store.
We are there right now,
Staring the Void in the face,
Beware be damned!
And back it stares at us and grins
And grimaces
With fun-house mirror faces.
We dance and sing with Nietzsche.
Well, why not?
Life is peachy!
- Sitaram (5/06/2003)
Reply With Quote
