Because From My View, It Seems Arbitrary

Do you have a line?

A line for which you draw

to help you sort the animals

from tiger to macaw

Who will you snuggle in your bed?

Who will you flatten in a trap?

Who will sit upon your plate?

Who will sit upon your lap?

Which ones do you cherish?

Which ones get a knife?

Which ones do you leave alone

to just be wildlife?

Which ones deserve protection?

Which ones deserve love?

Which ones simply get a blade

to remove their precious blood?

Which ones do you cage

and make jump 

through fiery hoops?

Which ones do you 

cram inside

tiny metal coops?

Is the answer in their voices

of what you will allow?

Do you eat the ones who moo

but never ones who meow?

Is the answer neatly packaged

inside the grocery store?

Is this where you will make the choice

between horse and wild boar?

When seated in a restaurant

to have a bite to eat,

is coyote on the menu

in which to sink your teeth?

Is the answer in the drive-thru,

super-sized with fries?

Is this where you will make the choice

which one lives and which one dies?

How did you decide

this line of life and death,

choosing when another

should take their final breath?

Was it carefully determined?

Were your options fully weighed?

Or did you only follow

the way others first behaved?

Take the time to ask yourself

where your line will be

and whether you want to fill your plate

with death and misery

If God - in his infinite wisdom

(or hers, or its, or their) -

gave you chickens to munch on,

weren’t you also given pears?

Written July 27, 2018