THE SORROW THAT HAS NO SPEECH

From lab, from cage and from forests,

From slaughterhouse stalls, comes the wail

Of my tortured kin.

They proclaim the sin

Of the mighty against the frail. …

For love is the true religion,

And love is the law sublime;

And all that is wrought,

where love is not

Will die at the touch of time.

Oh, shame on the mothers of mortals

Who have not stopped to teach

Of the sorrow that lies

in an animal’s eyes,

The sorrow that has no speech.

~~~

~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

~~~

PHOTO:  269LIFE.com

~~~

Blessings on those

who from a place of empathy and compassion

take action

to protect, defend and lend voice to

innocent, sentient, living beings

who cannot speak for themselves.

~~~

 TEACH CHILDREN COMPASSION AS A WAY OF LIFE

~~~

~Gerean Pflug for The Animal Spirits

~~~

Share this:

Unless we draw upon our empathy, putting ourselves in the place of the other and understanding what they are feeling, we cannot connect. This poetry works to transport us into a place in which we stand in the same space “with the breath of a thousand young souls” eye-witnessing their suffering at the hands of men. What will you do? ~Gerean, The Animal Spirits

THE PRICE OF A CIRCUS SEAT

Baby Circus Elephant in “Training”

THE PRICE OF A CIRCUS SEAT

Dragged, kicking and screaming

to the circus we go

we once walked proudly,

freely for miles and miles each day

with our families

to whom we bond deeply

babies spending their entire lives

by the sides of loving mothers

we long for this life

that will never again be

for we are now

captive entertainers

circus elephants are we.

*

Our tiny baby elies

are torn from us

and forced

in the most inhumane ways imaginable

to be broken

beginning with the breaking of our bodies

followed by the breaking of our spirits

our terror is ignored

as our legs are bound

we are stretched out

slammed to the ground

gouged with bull-hooks

and shocked with electric prods

we cry, scream out

and struggle desperately to remain upright

looking deeply into the eyes of our tormentors

searching

for a compassionate face that might save us

the response is . . .

increased human anger

brutal force

of us into the painful positions necessary

to perform circus tricks.

*

Away from public eye

and carefully insured to be unmonitored

by those who may protect us,

we are shocked

and whipped

and beaten severely

with sticks, and canes and bats

about our heads, and legs, and ears and chins,

before we step upon your stage

lest we dare to forget

who is boss.

*

Intolerant of our fear, our terror

our overwhelming anxiety

we are stabbed with sharp objects

rammed violently and intentionally

into our delicate, tender places around our ears

reminding us that there will be no expression

of natural feeling or emotion

accepted here.

*

Late at night the circus spotlights dim

the music, loudspeakers, claps and cheers fall silent

costumes and makeup removed

the sea of human faces in the crowd

have long disappeared

and while you rest

we are

moved into compartments

extremely cramped spaces

arena basements

flimsy stalls

and box cars

the chains appear

heavy shackles forced upon our tired, aching legs

and then . . .

we wait

standing anchored to one spot

for seemingly endless hours

unable to move

hardly more than a step

devoid of stimulation

standing in our own excrement

swaying neurotically

no other choice for us

than to accept this life we did not choose

or be put down without dignity.

*

Of course there is an upside

for when the ‘mourning’ comes

more tickets will be sold

at fifteen to fifty bucks a pop

justifying our existence and noble purpose;

Our majestic lives in trade

for the price of a circus seat.

*

 by Gerean Pflug for “The Animal Spirits”

November 26, 2012

*

(Reconstructed & Rewritten by influence of the PETA Video “Boycott Circuses That Use Elephants”

 Alec Baldwin, Spokesperson, Video Link Below)

PETA VIDEO – BOYCOTT CIRCUSES THAT USE ANIMALS LINK

Find out what PETA is doing:  People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

*

The Dutch government has announced their ban on the use of wild animals in circuses.

Greece and Bolivia have banned the use of animals in circuses!

The UK is in process of banning the use of wild animals in circuses!

What on earth is the United States thinking by allowing this travesty to continue?

*

The amount of  pain and suffering, both physically and emotionally, that circus animals are put through to entertain human adults and the children for even one minute, is a crime.  We can better serve our children and our children’s children at a compassionate and enlightened level, by boycotting circuses that use and abuse our world’s wildlife.

*

The ticket price of $15.00 – $50.00 per person, multiplied by the thousands/millions that attend circuses and are entertained at the cost of the animals, can be regenerated to assist in preserving animals in their natural habitats, supporting those who create natural habitats for our wildlife, providing funds and supplies to those working in animal rehabilitation, to those who protect our wildlife from illegal poaching or to wildlife orphanages that care for babies whose families have been needlessly murdered for the profit in ivory and other body parts.

*

What better way to raise our children in consciousness, than to educate them to respect, promote and protect our planet and all life that dwells here with us?

            YOU CAN HELP

• Refuse to attend circuses that use wild animals
• Ask our elected officials to insist that lawmakers ban the use of animals in circuses
• Email Congress.  Ask them to sign the Traveling Exoctic Animal Protection Act #HR3359 http://breakthechainus.com/action-needed-to-pass-hr-3359-the-traveling-exotic-animal-protection-act/
• Sign Petitions supporting causes that protect animals used in circuses:
• For more information visit:  Animal Defenders International
• Raise public awareness:  Reblog, Twitter and add posts to Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc.
• Support Wildlife Protection by raising public awareness and helping raise funds.
• Reroute dollars spent at the cost of wildlife into support dollars for animal welfare and protection funds.
• Educate children of the need to protect our future wildlife.
• Exercise consistent shifts toward increasing empathy and compassion to all living creatures.

IN THE INTEREST OF FAIRNESS

IN THE INTEREST OF FAIRNESS

It appears that man”kind”

is more the problem

than the solution

to the ever increasing loss of rain forests,

the polar ice caps

our polluted oceans, rivers and streams,

 and the disappearance of the majestic species of the animal kingdom.

I wonder . . .

if nonhuman animals were in charge of the  thinning out

of grossly-over-populated man”kind,”

who is the criminally-careless destroyer

of this earth

how would they choose to handle the “inconvenient situation” ?

would they club us to death,

indiscriminantly kill the mother’s of nursing babies,

destroy our communities, drive us from our homes

take away our food so that we simply died of starvation

or perhaps set iron traps that broke our bones,

leaving us there in terror and overwhelming pain

to either die alone

or to be fed upon by another species.

Or would they scare us in mass groups

so that in a desperate act of survival,

we ran together into large nets

 left to die in mass prisons.

We might be excellent specimens

in a laboratory

for understanding the effects

of greed and indifference

on all of creation

Perhaps they would kill us just for the fun of it,

once dead,  in ridiculous pose, sit upon our backs

and have their photos taken of the grizzly prize

awaiting pending posting

to their Facebook pages.

I don’t think so.

The Animal Spirits

live at a much higher level

of consciousness

than this.

~Gerean Pflug for The Animal Spirits

~~~

Author: Gerean Pflug,  11/25/2012 ~ All rights reserved.

Copy permitted along with a link back to this page.

~~~

FOLLOW THE ANIMAL SPIRITS ON FACEBOOK