On a Mountain Road in India A Poem by Ingrid Newkirk - Founder of PETA

[Guest guest]

On a Mountain Road in India

A Poem by Ingrid Newkirk - Founder of PETA

 

On the bend in the mountain road

where the cattle have been dropped

dropped, thrown, dragged from the truck

I kneel in the dirt beside you now,

your horns against my ear.

Your massive cow face in my hands.

I remember the experts said, Watch out!

A single blow from that huge head can

kill a man.

That head weighs as much as your

whole body.

Whatever you do, beware of those horns!

 

But you have known people all of your life.

Grew up with little boys goading you

down dusty streets.

Sat in the evening in the village

listening to the birds

watching the cooking fires

grateful to the man

who unhitched the yoke

and let you graze.

 

Your eyes are weeping from the tobacco

and green chili peppers

smeared inside them

by men who thought the burn would

make you stand,

that twisting your tail

until it snapped for the sixth or eighth time

would make you rise.

But a bull with a broken pelvis can t get to his feet.

 

You let me dig deep

into the corner of your eyes,

searching for the seeds and leaves

through my tears and yours.

You sit patiently while I pour water into the crevices

to flush out the pain.

 

I leave you and walk away

with the others,

moving through the assembly line

of cattle horrors

throughout the night.

 

In the afternoon, we return to the mound.

You are sitting in the drizzle

all alone now

looking out over a stunning view

of the Nilgiri Hills.

 

I kneel beside you.

and tell you that I love you.

For I do,

with all my aching heart.

 

You must have known

we could never make your body whole again.

You must have known

you could never pull a cart again.

Or plough a field,

or stroll down to the river

to feel the cool water on your velvet skin.

 

The needle pierces your vein

making you jump

just a little,

trying not to make a fuss,

not bucking or butting,

not turning your horns that crucial inch

that would impale us.

 

Your eyes close quietly

and you slip away

to dance with Lord Krishna

and play games with Ganesh.

 

Somewhere, miles away now,

the others walk on still.

Tomorrow they will find themselves in a new hell.

Upside down, their faces in offal,

their eyes screaming,

This can t be happening to me!

We will see their bodies

hanging in the market next week,

hacked into cuts for the table.

 

And I will think of you every day

looking into my eyes without surprise.

 

 

 

GREATNESS OF NATION AND ITS MORAL PROGRESS

CAN BE JUDGED BY THE WAY ITS ANIMALS ARE TREATED- M.K GANDHI.

STOP HUMAN AND ANIMAL SUFFERING - GO VEGAN

I am only one but still I am one. I cannot do everything but still I can do

something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.

Helen Keller 1880 - 1968

 

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.