Ode to the Red Shirt
Oh! What cruel fate is this?
To be cast and killed before
The final showdown?
To be eliminated
By a mysterious alien
Whose evil intentions have just been revealed?
Or to be finished by a disease
Plaguing a planet in distress?
Isn't it aggravating?
To watch while the other characters
Overcome great obstacles
In that night's exciting episode?
For your character to not even have a name,
And yet, be so important to the plot?
For what would the captain do,
Without you, dear Red Shirt?
Your death shows the intensity
Of the situation.
So there is no use
Trying to avoid your fate.
Even Scotty dies now and then,
And he has a name!
What comes of it? Your struggle?
All your hard work? A t-shirt,
That can be bought off a website,
Red,
With "expendable" written across it.
Don't doubt it, dear Red Shirt,
You are appreciated.
But.... a word of advice:
You might not want to beam down
To the next planet whose population has....
"Mysteriously disappeared"