Slaughterhouse Softness

is a newly sharpened blade

that slices through sinew

as if it’s an overripe strawberry.

it’s looking after the lamb

even though it’s destined to die

by your own hands. 

when love leaks out in lakes,

softness is the towel that soaks it up.

it’s shrouding the lamb’s eyes with silky silence

and singing sweet songs in lullaby-lilt.

may you know peace beyond the pasture.

because love is hunger,

and hunger will chew through your stomach lining

if not quelled before it’s too late.

it’s looking down the length of an axe

and knowing destiny is to be doomed.

to be loved so strongly it kills—

there is no greater honor than to die cherished.

in this world,

we love most

by hurting.

measure pain in practice 

and prepare it in prayer.

when the lamb’s head

lolls limp in your arms,

and liquid red rolls down its mangled throat,

how much love is harbored in your heart?

By Jenna Tobias