Good Sadness
By Maria Tarquinio
An Animal Rights Poem from All-Creatures.org

All of God's creatures have rights, a fact that most people don't seem to recognize. This includes both human and non-human animals, but not all of them can speak for themselves.

Good Sadness
By Maria Tarquinio

Sadness is our stepping stone, and stair,
never a sharp rock, nor stumbling block.
Our sadness is our strength, a smooth rock,
a solid cornerstone of unbreakable compassion.

Sadness is our rock to break-open cages;
snap chains, heal wounds, soothe fears,
bring health to victims infected deliberately;
share sunlight and moonlight with prisoners set free.

Be inspired by your sadness,
wonderful friends.
Gather and plan, plot and pray,
dance in praise of abolition's coming day.

Respect sadness, bring it to the sunshine.
Rest and revive on this good warm rock.
Sadness is sister to rage, and mother of action.
Blush not about tears, we all carry this rock.

We carry it where our conscience leads us.
We rest on it, not on shifting sands.
We leap from it into ethics' heights.
Its weight propels us into holy works.

Don't die of sadness, gentle friends;
it's a life-force propelling you to integrity's ways.
It fans the flames of your compassion,
and brightens your soul to show others the light.

Laughter, celebration, love almost too sweet to bear,
honeysuckle-pleasured humane victories to share.
These are sun-rays dancing around sadness' clouds,
helping our hearts to hope for all whom terror shrouds.

Sadness calls us to action, dear kindhearted friends.
Educate, legislate, inspire, demonstrate, defy, and disgrace.
Sadness is our prayer for victims in every evil place.
Carry others, be carried, embrace one-another, we all cry sometimes.

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