He dances up the ladder
averting the Luddites
below, who smash the rungs
with weathered blunt force.

Ceaseless beats prod
his tempered heart
blued with blood
frozen in rusty pipes.

His piqued hands
squeeze the callous
stilts that splinter
the slightest slip.

The pounding soon
endures the howling
of a ragged hound
that bemoans for scraps.

The sliver in his ear
bites at his tongue
and shaken he
ties a noose with the leash.

Release.