Joys of Destruction
by Jack Lagoria
When Siva’s black hands
Sear our brains with fire,
When winds howl
And the bleeding fox lies in the trap,
When oppressed people roll wild
Eyes to the sickles on the wall,
There is hunger in the soul.
If we be cowards, we seek
Some weaker animal
And in the night destroy it.
If we be brave, from our fevered bodies
We light the fires to engulf the world.
We plunge ourselves into anything that has flesh,
Or is a memory of man.
We cut, and rip, slash, and tear,
And obliterate all trace of the curse of man’s existence.
“Joys of Destruction,” by Jack Lagoria originally published in Forum (1942, City College of San Francisco).
Forum Literary Magazine 