After more than a month of “shelter at home”
our frustration is busting at the seam
We are yearning to be free
but, sadly it still is a faraway dream

Oh, we long for the freedom to go wherever
and whenever to shop, dine or play
One only appreciates the freedoms
when they are taken away

I know now how caged animals must feel
They are born to be free –
free to fly, free to run, free to roam
Their natural instincts, we fail to see

We lock them up in enclosures
Their entire lives we destroy,
What right do we have to rob them of
liberties, they are born to enjoy?

Unlike the encaged animals
We will get our freedoms back
It is only a matter of time
Sadly, such options these animals lack

Look at a bird in a tiny bird cage
If she could talk, she might say…..

I want to fly
I want to touch the sky
Alas, I can’t get free
No matter how much I try!

Look at a big cat in a zoo
If he could talk, he might say…..

I was born to rule the Savannah
I had my own territory
Hunt, raise a family, live like a king
In this cage, I lost all my glory

 Both the bird and big cat might also add…

You proclaim big ideals..
Such as “Live free or die”
It is a hypocrisy, since
to us, these don’t apply

No other animal treats
its fellow living beings this way
By stealing their freedom,
we have gone astray

May be our forced “internment” will prod
us to be more mindful of animals’ plight
To give them their freedoms that Nature
endowed them, is only just and right.

PS: on the plight of animals we raise for food

The plight of animals we raise for food Is even worse than those we keep in cages as pets or showcase them in zoos.

They are walking dead, like zombies
While we keep their bodies alive,
we cruelly kill their souls and
we let them barely survive.

Let’s consider how we treat animals raised for “food”:
– we fatten them by force feeding
– we starve them when it suits our purpose
– we breed them in “Frankensteinish” way
– we pack them like sardines (they are still alive!)
– we mutilate their bodies to make them powerless
– we force them to live in unsanitary conditions
– we pump antibiotics in them to treat infections thus caused

Then, we enact gag laws so that
no one can report their plight
Industry and politicians collude
to make sure no one can shine a light

These animals too are God’s children
They deserve to be treated humanely
We don’t have any right to ”steal their souls
We decide their life spans, let’s do it ethically.

It may cost a little more to raise them the right way
Morally, it is wrong to treat them as anything less
than living breathing creatures with souls
More humane treatment is a duty, not a largess.

Penned during the height of Covid-19 pandemic