I thought I saw an execution there.
The fascinated public gathered round.
The cheerful hangmen stripped the victim bare
and built their gibbet high above the ground.
The rope was taut. My wildness filled with fear.
I saw him fall. I heard his final cry.
Yet when the hangmen left I ventured near
to find my fault: I'd never seen him die.
   In fact, I think he'd died some years ago:
   there's blackness of decay in every breath.
   The sound of flies was all that's left to grow,
   now free to come and feast upon his death;
prince of the trees, I have a simple plea:
I will not die till death has come to me.