As a little boy he loved to watch a fly
Squirm limbless as he left it there to die
In a pile of others on the window-sill.
To Hermann it was a harmless game
Though his teacher never seemed to think the same
And for this often spanked him round the head
Though, he observed, the flies had never said
That they objected ....

And so it was he gained an education
So he could sweep up rubbish (his Vocation),
Whilst his mother did the washing for the neighbour
Three nights a week, the woman from next door,
Who was old, crippled, and a terrible bore,
Gave him a meal, the which he gladly ate,
But during it she talked without abate.
Above all things was one that Hermann knew,
To talk at meals was not the thing to do;
But to correct her was ill-mannered too.

When Father Shlurg had died, some years before,
They'd kept his axe, which hung behind the door,
Well polished, for it was a good keepsake,
And so it was, as he lay awake
Pondering how to stop the irritation
Of the old neighbour and her conversation,
That he recalled the axe.

He took the axe to work the following day,
Which was a Friday, and he came with his pay
To her home, where she always made a meal
Whilst he fondled the axe's shining steel,
Flashing as though jewelled very bright,
In the weak leprous haze of the light;
And after he had finished he saw her
Swaying gently in the rocking chair,
Knitting, and her needles caught his eye,
Moving swiftly like the busy fly,
When washing.

He saw her in her armchair then relax.
She never saw the moving, flashing axe,
And then a thud.    ,
That stain upon the carpet could be blood,
An Axminster too!

The police seized him some time the following day.
Of course, they charged him without much delay
And said that they would find the body soon. . . .
And did find all her limbs that afternoon.
He then recalled the flies ...
A foolish whim He'd had, but that was just like him
To cut the limbs off, just for old time's sake,
Sentimental . . . that was his mistake.

"He's mad", they said when once the court was mustered.
(Myself I doubt that courts can quite be trusted ...
Nowadays).
"Eccentric", yes, perhaps, but never "mad",
That's far too strong.    He wasn't really bad;
That does not mean to say that he was good.
Perhaps he was somewhat "misunderstood".
Perhaps he was! 

J. WILLIAMS, 5L.