In mid-air
It lies suspended
With potent power
Waiting to serve
Its stone-faced master
It poses
Like the open mouth
Of a cunning croc
Waiting patiently
For its helpless victim
And when it gets him
It acts like a robber
Snapping
Snatching the life
Of unlucky convicts
The hangman’s noose
Thick and round
Hanging gaily
Like a harmless swing
Yet a frightening terror
To criminal minds
And horror
Even to the innocent.

Tobi Adebowale

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-hangman-s-noose/