Just when will you ever get used to the killing?
Is it not the way to show piety?
Be proud of yourself to think that you’re fulfilling
the time-honored requirements of propriety.
They call it putting you through your paces
and say it will lead to something resembling peace.
But be sure not to present them with sour faces.
Let them suppose it’s from smiling – that crease
upon your brow that’s really no more than a frown.
Eventually you’ll learn to cut through the fleece
and kill the thing without making a sound –
far, far away from where your sons and daughters sleep.
Don’t take it for more than an admission of fact,
presented without the semblance of tact:
You love the ceremony, not the slaughtered sheep.
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