Ethanol (poem)

You thrash and writhe.
Yet, you continue to die.
Nothing you can do
Will stop your life from leaving.
My net has been cast over you
And I will drag you to your demise.
I see the panic flash on your face,
Yet I proceed in the execution.
The minutes go by
And your kin pile up.
The stench becomes more and more putrid.
The acrid smell of death is everywhere.
Your life has been for naught.
You were born only to die.
And for what cause?
To prove what is already clear to us;
That your world is being corrupted
Because we don't know how to handle ours.

Originally published in The Binnacle in 1997.