Eulogy for a Rooster

[summer_jackel]

Little rooster who crowed this morning
before I stroked you until you calmed
and slit your throat.
Plucked, dressed, iced
I will anoint you in oil and rosemary
this afternoon, and eat you
for a late lunch.
You will be part of me
in a very literal and non-poetic way.

And I will miss you.
Your pride and beauty, your clean feathers and shining eye.
For all the chickens I have eaten and never knew,
the memory of your morning call proclaims:
Love what you must kill;
kill only what you love.