Vulnerability

[Underground_Network]

A shallow shell protects the egg,
The heartbeat off the unborn chick
Follows the rhythm of a silent
Stereophone.

The shallow shell is ready to break open
Before it the chick is ready to be hatched.
A razor sharp golden eagle
Pecks at the egg's weak exterior,
It's weak shield
From the cruel reality
Of the visceral vineland.

The egg cracks open,
And the silent heartbeat
Stops.

But the eagle flies away,
And the heartbeat starts up again,
As the yellow, malodorous contents
From inside pour out from the shell
And onto the grass floor.

The heartbeat is not that of the chicks,
But that of the internal clock
Ticking within the
Visceral vineland,
Counting down the minutes,
Awaiting the end.