“Dance, dance!”

Oh such pain

As I tread from foot to swollen foot

People laughing

People jeering

Smiles discernible

Through thick glazed eyes.

“Dance, dance!”

Oh such pain

As the metal hook in my nose

Is wrenched up-

What have I done

To deserve such torture?

“Dance, dance!”

I was meant to be

A brave, mighty creature

Wandering through forest groves

But that is a past

That belongs to my ancestors.

“Dance, dance!”

Look at me now:

This scrawny shadow

Of rib and scarred skin

Forced to do a dance

Of pain and sorrow

For those smiling, twisted people.

“Dance, dance!”

With every day my hope ebbs

With every day my strength saps

And with every day I fade a little more.

But the pain does not stop

And will not stop

Till death, that beautiful

Yet elusive entity

Sweeps down with a pitying hand

And saves me from this living inferno.

“Dance, dance!”

I dance

Because I cannot speak

And I must suffer

Because my killers

Do not understand.

The practice of dancing bears must end. What depths of pain must those poor, noble creatures suffer each day, simply so that humans might feel perverted pleasure?