I was born anthropomorphic…it wasn’t until I came across the word that I realised that was ‘what I had’ as a child and that was what separated me from most other people.
I just knew and could feel the emotions of fear and terror when a sheep truck passed loaded with woolly-souls heading to the abbattoirs….and when the Mother cows mooed and moaned when the ‘poddy’ calves were taken away…I understood that they were expereincing grief and heartache equal to that which humans experience.
“Too sensitive” I was often told…what a challenge that sensitivity was for so many years…what a Gift it became over time…..
It was very difficult to be anthropomorphic in my younger years….some days it still is…
I wrote the following poem quite some time ago when, on reflection, I was still outraged by the injustice inflicted on the animal kingdom and the total- nonconnection so much of the world seems to have for our furry, feathery, fin and scale Brothers and Sisters.
I probably would not write such an indignant defender-of-the-animal-kingdom-poem these days…I am more at peace with the outrageous injustices across all of the kingdoms as time has passed …but I still have a fondness for this piece because I remember the day I wrote it and the deep and heartfelt connection I experienced with all of the little souls in there at the Urumbirra Wild life Sanctuary…
‘DON’T TELL ME THAT WE ARE HIGHER THAN THE ANIMALS…’
When I see Mother Koala snoozing in the tree and clutch her baby as he stirs in his sleep…
Don’t tell me that we are higher than the animals!
And when the Big Red Kangaroo rises to his full height and
blinks with long lashed eyes that survey each member of his tribe
Don’t tell me that we are higher than the Animals!
When the Dingo puppies frolic and roll and tumble
Whilst their Mother eyes me suspiciously and
nudges them back to their home made cave…
Don’t tell me that we are higher than the Animals!
And don’t use terms like Pig in a way that intends to offend
Because I have witnessed their cleanly ways and
I have delighted in the way they roll and
grunt in ecstasy in the company of their own kin
And don’t say “you fat cow” in an insulting way when I have seen
a Mother Cow calling out to her calf whilst running behind the farmers ute
as he took her Baby away.
I saw the pain and the fear and the grief in the Mother and Babies eyes
Until she was left standing…staring
as the ute disappeared down a dusty track
Her baby calling out to her in terror
and She responded with a deep and mournful cry
When I see the Red-Bellied black snake glide protectively over her young
I know that her nurturing is as equally important as our own.
Because She is serpent do we assume that She is
cold blooded and without feeling?
When I see Bilyara the Wedge Tail Eagle stand flightless
with shattered wing
Is his pain any less than yours or mine?
And that he will never ever again be King of the Sky
Doesn’t that pierce his heart and make his Soul cry?
Don’t tell me that we fly higher than the Animals!
When the Pelicans waddle and their fluffy off-spring follow
Is their day any less important than yours or mine?
When Rocky the Poodle (in his hand knitted winter coat)
runs circles around his owner, yapping with delight
Is his Love inferior to yours or mine?
Indeed His Love propels him to perform a dance of delight
Never taking his eyes from the elderly woman he adores.
When Minerva my Cat sends me a soundless image
that tells me she is being held hostage by Libby the Dog
Isn’t Her imagery more powerful than mine?
When I see a flock of sparrows gather around one of their babies
who has been skittled by a car
Is their chittering and nudging and fluttering and flittering
any less significant than a death to you or I?
When I see a Chimpanzee interned in a cramped cage in Bangkok
being subjected to the inane mimicry of tourists who prod him and call him names
Am I imagining the dull sheen of tears that long ago sealed over his eyes?
Don’t tell me that we are higher evolved than the Primates!
When Alice Walker speaks of Christmas as a time of the ritual killing
of sappling trees and the bludgeoning of Turkeys,
slaughtering of Lambs and
butchering of Pigs…
A time of gluttony and gorging and greed…
Is she wrong?
Are we truly deserving of the Sacred task we have
to Honour Mother Earth and ALL Her Children
Those who fly, walk, swim, crawl and climb!
Don’t tell me… Don’t try to convince me
That we are higher than the Animals!
