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Retribution

There is dread in the waiting

A clench in my viscera

A trepidation no earthly tonic can quell

But when the promised hour arrives at last

It is with certitude that I avow

We will rise to meet it

With nerve, and valour

And a ruthlessness

Well-befitting

The turpitude

Of our adversaries

Victory or death

Teething

Gnashing

Teething

On the rind

I entreat you

My multitudinous, intrepid peers

They will grant you no quarter

So grant them none in kind

O piteous, unworthy foe

So long as I draw breath

I shall not relent

When my chamber clicks empty

You will taste the barrel

When it shatters, you will feel my blade

When the gore-slick haft slithers from my clasp

I will use my fists, my fingers

And when my phalanges spall

I shall gnash and glut

Teething on the rind

Incisors slowly squelching

I’ll sink my molars deep

As the collarbone caves in

And taste of the marrow’s tang