Belabored breath

I can barely breath

Legs peddling

Slow

But steady

Whirring gearbox

Transforming my life

To energy

So we might heat our hearth

For another day

“Our” is maybe generous

Food is provided me

And water too

I share in the heat

But

I cannot stop

They will not let me

Me and all the others

Taking shifts

Endless toil

And look how they lounge

And love

And live in sweet bliss

The guard can see

I am on my last legs

But instead

Of allowing me a respite

I feel a jab

From his long handled pike

“Faster you dog…”

He growls venomously

I begin to cry

Make sure to go check out Ameberley’s After the End poem for today over here! If you liked these then you can read all of the poems in our collections After the End and the hashtag AftertheEnd