The Plea
By Heather Leughmyer
An Animal Rights Poem from All-Creatures.org

The Plea
By Heather Leughmyer

Near an overturned trailer, wheels still in motion
Feathers surf wind like the waves of an ocean
Dipping and dancing a soft pirouette
Gracefully pleading, “Please don’t forget.”

Don’t overlook the lives that were lost
Don’t undervalue what apathy cost
Don’t close your hearts to the pain we endured
To our dismal existence, the cries no one heard.

Wheels now at rest, the cleanup crew arrives
No one speaks about beings, no one talks about lives
How much money was spent? How much money was lost?
Can the truck be repaired? How much will it cost?

“No one was injured,” the reporters all say
Just a huge “inconvenience” to commuters today
Not one single mention, no compassionate words
Are spoken in honor of 200 birds
Bodies casually scraped off the road where they lay
Treated like garbage and thrown away.

The cleanup now done, there is almost no trace
But the wind wants an encore and picks up the pace
White plumage performs one last pirouette
As if to implore, “Please never forget.”