Who Are You?
By Elizabeth Farians

From all-creatures.org
SPIRITUAL AND
INSPIRATIONAL
POETRY ARCHIVES

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Who Are You?
By Elizabeth Farians

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Look into my eyes...deeply.
I have the same breath of life as you.
I am a living being, like you.
I am alive and aware. I have feelings and emotions.
I value my life as I struggle to protect and keep it.
I enjoy the breeze and the sun's warmth like you do and
I enjoy the coolness of the earth under my feet.
I am terrorized, as you are, by cruelty.
I cherish my calf as you cherish your child and
I grieve when my calf is taken from me and made into veal.
I feel pain the same as you do and
I ache from being kept continually pregnant, so that
I am forced to give milk beyond my natural capacity.
I want to live even when you have drained all my milk. Then
I do not want to be dragged to the slaughter house.
I want to be in peace.
I am "I," a subject.
I am not an object.
I am a "Thou."
WHO ARE YOU?