Schadenfreude,
that fortitude towards suffering of others
that ode from vice to virtue

sliding off a smile
as butter on toast, as cheap analogy
regurgitating references with laughter perverted

Schadenfreude,
that ultimate copy paste
that medicine by hypocritical ode to care

slipping from unspeakable tragedy
into resounding laughter as echoes of pain to come
hiding existential fear roaring in a smile, a giggle even

Schadenfreude,
that pleasure pleasing plethora
that spitting over pops of held back cackles

gliding glee in layered voicing
as compassion lost for a moment
in that actuality

of an event abstracted
into a felled model
of human staggery.

                                —animasuri’24