From All-Creatures.org

Animal Rights Poetry By Vivian Chinelli

SCARED

I’m a little pig who’s terribly scared.
I desperately wish that somebody cared.

This morning we were herded onto a truck.
We’re stuck, out of luck, in a system we can’t buck.

There’s a stench of fear as the truck takes off,
going somewhere, but who knows where.
Trying to squeeze our snouts through the few little slits
where we battle each other for air. I can’t breathe.

We squirm and we squeal knowing something’s not right.
There’s no light. Feels like night.
No end to our struggle in sight. Just fright!
And all I know is I want to take flight. But I can’t.

If I squint through the slit
I can see where we’re heading and I’m dreading it.
The sign says SLAUGHTERHOUSE.

Already the smell of dying is around me.
No love to surround me. The angel of death has found me.

The truck has stopped at the gate. But wait!
There are some caring people at the entrance
who are giving us water through the slits,
trying to relieve us of the fear. I shed a tear.
My tired eyes thank them for being here, near.

The gates open. The truck jolts forward. It’ll be over soon.

Tomorrow another pig who is terribly scared
will also desperately wish that somebody cared.

 

Click here for a link to my presentation of SCARED at the 2022 National Animal Rights Day NARD event, Beverly Hills CA.

 

© Vivian Chinelli, 2022

 

Go on to: THE RACE
Return to: Poetry by Vivian Chinelli
Read more at Animal Rights Poetry