Stewardship

It starts with a "t."

 

Stewardship

© 2007 Mark Pearce

 

 

Treat your chickens kindly.

Let them walk on God’s green Earth.

Let them promenade in sun light

With a shelter for their berth.

 

Don’t you pin ‘em up in boxes

Or a tiny wire hold

Suspended over fecal sluices

Where their wings cannot unfold.

 

Don’t feed ‘em antibiotics

Within each and every bite.

Don’t breed ‘em so they cannot walk.

You know that isn’t right.

 

Don’t grow ‘em by the zillion

And extend them with fake light.

Don’t snip and grind away their beaks

Because they’re wedged too tight.

 

Don’t make ‘em breathe-in air that’s choked

With amoniated dust.

Don’t make ‘em drink from water troughs

All filled with mold and rust.

 

Let ‘em harvest bugs and grasses

And scratch pebbles from the ground.

I implore you, treat ‘em kindly.

They’ll be the best chickens around.

 

Author's Note

I beg the pardon of vegans out there.

Reviews

[Emily B]

and they'll taste better, too :-)

How are ya, Mark? I'm no vegan.