Accused

Six of them stare at me accusingly unblinking, motionless, all in a line, their silence since their sentence came to be bears witness to them, victims of a crime. Pointless for me to offer a defence, I swear I had no hand in their demise, my only part I played to bear them hence, the last person to gaze into those eyes. Their lives cut short with others in a throng, no calls for mercy, screams of fear or pain, not punishment, for they had done no wrong, a necessary loss for mankind's gain. I know that it will be a while till when I eat some sardines from a tin again.