When This Day Comes
By Beth Levine
An Animal Rights Poem from All-Creatures.org

When This Day Comes
By Beth Levine

I imagine a time
When we humans Live in harmony
With other living beings
A time when Our hearts feel a connection
With turkeys and lambs
Fish and ducks
Orangutans
A time
When we notice how
We all
Enjoy life
We all
Seek out happiness
We all
Desire to be free from harm
We all
Breathe in and breathe out
And like this ebb and flow
Our need for violence and exploitation
Our greed for domination
Over Cows and chickens
Elephants and orcas
Blacks
Jews
Women
Or mountaintops
Recedes
In ourselves
In our society
As does the tide

When this day comes
We will know a lightness
With our selves
With other people
With other beings
With nature
For there will be
No darkness cloaking the truth of our choices

This day will come
When we care for our fellow earthlings
As we would a friend
With kindness
With concern
With love
Valuing
Their lives
Valuing
The wellspring
Of compassion
Within us all