watching a rabid raccoon

stumbled upon a rabid raccoon
(posted on youtube)
recorded by some family
huddled inside their kitchen
looking out the sliding glass door
on a sunny afternoon &
could not make it through a minute &
thirty seconds,
the way the animal
so beautiful
stood there twitching,
with its eyes drunken &
the idiots holding the camera
commenting
without knowing that the poor
thing had become
diseased,
as the foam dripped from its
mouth,
when it fell i
had to click out of the window
entirely,
do something else,
get that fucking image out of my
brain---
but it would not go---
i wondered just what carnage
had passed my own eyes,
what carnage, what horrors of
human doing,
could invade my very being &
leave me with less terror
than this poor animal
diseased & helpless---
had Nietzsche felt the same
when he got down on his
knees near the fallen horse &
wept like a child,
going mad?
what unique images & feelings can
destroy each one of us,
leaving nothing but an eternal
burn inside,
making us wish that we never
stepped into the
ring.