Mary had a little lamb
Animal Rights Poetry By Julie Dickinson From All-Creatures.org

Poems of compassion dedicated to the non-human animals who share this planet with us and the people who fight for them.

Mary had a little lamb
By Julie Dickinson

Mary had a little lamb
so sweet, so white,
and slow…

to the reality that life
would end with the knife.
The lamb was sure to go.

Cute, but not enough
to keep him from the table.
Small and unable,
to fend off human touch.

Mary had a little lamb
so sweet, so white,
her beau…

as young as ten weeks
but sometimes 7 months,
the time would come to go.

As Mary giggles
And nibbles,
mopping gravy from her chin
and what remains of you, little lamb
goes quickly in the bin.

Mary had a little lamb
so sweet, so white,
yet told…

to do as she said,
amidst the dread
of not knowing where else to go.

No escape from plated fate,
little lamb…
Unless we set you free.
No escape for you - says Mary,
But I fight and disagree.

Mary had a little lamb,
of shank and blood and bone.
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.

Art © Julie Dickinson

Drawn from original source, ‘Mary had a little lamb.’ Claimed by other authors but believed to have first been published (and written originally) by Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879 Boston) in her collection of Nursery Rhymes.

Go on to: My kin
Return to Poetry by Julie Dickinson
Return to Animal Rights Poetry