Craig McArthur: ‘slay none for me’

slay none for me

Driving the Hume
on a hot summer night
a cattle truck passes me,
the odour of death
taints the highway long after
the truck has disappeared.

And I wonder if the cattle,
like the “condemned man”,
were given one final meal
and a long, cool drink of water
before their nightmare ride.

Craig McArthur