watching a rabid raccoon

stumbled upon a rabid raccoon

(posted on youtube)

recorded by some family

huddled inside their kitchen

looking out the sliding glass door

on a sunny afternoon &

could not make it through a minute &

thirty seconds,

the way the animal

so beautiful

stood there twitching,

with its eyes drunken &

the idiots holding the camera

commenting

without knowing that the poor

thing had become

diseased,

as the foam dripped from its

mouth,

when it fell i

had to click out of the window

entirely,

do something else,

get that f*****g image out of my

brain---

but it would not go---

i wondered just what carnage

had passed my own eyes,

what carnage, what horrors of

human doing,

could invade my very being &

leave me with less terror

than this poor animal

diseased & helpless---

had Nietzsche felt the same

when he got down on his

knees near the fallen horse &

wept like a child,

going mad? 

what unique images & feelings can

destroy each one of us,

leaving nothing but an eternal

burn inside,

making us wish that we never

stepped into the

ring.