[A reading of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities]

The word reeks with the ravings of mankind,
the spilling of blood that is redder than wine,
the chopping of heads like chickens’ at the slaughterhouse,
the barbarous pillage of every temple of God,
the perpetuation of the legacy of original but now genetic crime.
And amid the stench of persecuted blood
a man sought the guillotine to part with his head
a gift for the woman he truly loved.