The crowds gaily gathered,
watching with sick delight.
Waiting for the gory show,
drinking in bloody ambiance.

Flailing arms, faltering steps,
knowing the end has come.
Out to the baying masses,
kicking and screaming aloud.

The hangman's noose,
knotted and tightened.
Sways as if a drunken man,
awaits the neck it has won.

Black hood encloses head,
fear engulfs his dark soul.
Grotesquely turning torso,
end of a rancid life.

Body hanging limp and loose,
swinging silently to and fro.
Hypoxic and hypothermic,
brain-dead, clammy and cold.