Thirst

no label, no logo
no list of ingredients
anything could be inside
still we drank

one a day for five days
each sip acid on our tongues
each swallow a knife in the stomach
still we drank

all that had been promised
our widest dreams made real
would come when the last was drained
so we drank, greedily

bodies wasting, breaths halting
we had been told of the pain to come
before the final victory
and still we drank

around me the others fell
lifeless, unable to continue
had we all been fooled?
yet still I drank