under the guise of playing saviours
We are extremely grateful for the talented Xavier Coughlan’s offering to Voices, and we appreciate his support. Xavier is a student who often chooses to address the theme of mental health within his poetry. Eloquent, profound and thought-provoking, we are very fortunate that he has decided to share ‘The Decimation’. Thank you Xavier.
The Decimation
Berkshire. A high-security psychiatric hospital designed by architect Joshua Jebb to accommodate Britain’s most elusive and intuitive.
An assembly of ten,
unburdened by morals,
gathered one fierce night
to float suggestions
of a solution –
to fabricate subtleties
in catastrophe
and solve
what makes you man.
–
These mighty ten
had been convened
by fate and a sectioning law,
and together round a table,
crafted by Joseph’s son himself,
the group disputed your future.
–
The Richest clanged
for an annihilation;
the demolition of a continent
blessed not by wealth,
but by culture,
and all the economics
heritage entails,
under the guise
of playing saviours.
–
One proposed a decimation
and advocated it by tying a noose
and swaying from the hands of
Our strongest
and jiggling to the pain of their
blood-crossed hands.
–
We were subdued by two thoughts
in watching him dangle:
admiration for not being formulaic
in not using the flush of lighting;
and the eulogizing of his manifesto
in watching its flair unfold.
–
He was right.
That night, we shared his Lithium,
grinding the pills
into equal amounts –
complying with the cadaver.
Decimation was the future.
The decision had been made.
They bid farewell and set off
to tackle the execution.
Pax vobiscum
Xavier Coughlan, Pewsey, Wiltshire
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