Cows' Statement

You see us primarily as docile,
above all as uncomplaining.

In consequence, there is a taking
far beyond the need
of brother and sister for eating.

We are fed and bled,
cut up and packaged as meat;
or you take our milk.

Our barns have been turned into factories,
our fields to lots,
our children reduced to what sells.

We are forced to grow fast to meet greed
just to be killed.

Once we were given names
and were sometimes pets,
at least for the time we were young.
Now we regret
that our giving receives no respect.

Even our fat
that once was burned for the gods
has now been banned
from what you call healthy diets
that we die to fill.

You, indeed, have to wonder at out will.
Never mind, it’s gone.
It has been bred out.

 To our shame we do not remember.