Where in the countryside could we travel and not see,
Cattle grazing peacefully in pastures of green?
Their gentle presence, without aggression or threat,
Appears as natural as the trees, sky and the grass.
If you have ever looked into the placid, brown pool of their eyes,
You would recognize the innocence and lack of fear that resides,
It seems peculiar to me, that we dare not look beyond,
What is pleasing to the sight and so tasteful to the tongue,
How many of these creatures are raised in feedlots and factory farms,
Without the space to move or ever knowing the sight of the sun,
Others without shelter from the brutal cold and burning rays,
Their value determined only by the price per pound of their weight,
Tractor-trailered across many a state and through towns,
Sentenced to death without a conscious regret,
Was it done in an instant or was suffering long?
As we sit down at our table, heads bowed to say grace,
Consider if this life was lived in agony each day,
Shan't we all do what we must to see that justice is done,
To shut down the feedlots and factory farms.
~Jennifer Geneseo
Malmo, NE
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