Animal Aid

Theme - Animals in captivity

First

Taken

By Philippa Crundwell

Vision of the amber rising sun,
As eighteen daggers tread the earth,
Body of grass; of night and fire,
An elegant creature from her birth.

A ruby plucked out of a glittering crown,
Tranquilised, kidnapped, thrown in the back,
Driven away from her habitual forest,
They stole her mind to make her world black.

Glazed over eyes of misted up glass,
Unaware of events; unaware she's alone,
Taken far, faw away to an alien place,
Stolen from family; stolen from home.

Locked up, confined, nowhere to run,
Eyeing he inmates with large dark jewels,
Pacing, pacing, pacing the cage,
The on looking capturers sniggered, the fools.

Babies sprawled sticky fingers all over the glass
Parents came, and saw, and left then forgot,
Children skipped on by with an ignorant glance,
They let her heart die and her spirit rot.

From a...
Vision of the amber rising sun,
As eighteen daggers tread the earth,
Body of grass; of night and fire,
An elegant creature from her birth.

To a...
Vision of freedom and the wilderness,
Trapped in one room, with nothing to do,
Body of weakness, lost hope and desire,
An elegant tiger imprisoned in a zoo.

Second

Winds of Change

By Vicky Robertson

The winds of change are in the air,
rousing all who slumber where
their cage is locked and food thrown there,
and silent pleas are met by glares
who will know and who will care?

Tigers prowl on steel floors
with locks and chains wrapped round the door
And in their eyes they beg for more
of food and drink and comfort or
a land of freedom - equal law
who will help and lend a paw?

Parrots call out in the night,
the cages dirty, all shut tight
Their voices were once filled with might,
but now they are a frightful sight
who will be their shining knight?

The winds of change are in the air,
I warn the keepers now BEWARE -
(If I were you I'd be quite scared)
for if you hurt just one more hair...
I will know, so tread with care.

Third

Captive

By Leah Shipley

A typical boring day for us,
Is lying in the dust,
Watching human keepers,
Who we do not trust,

Hundreds of people come to see,
My beautiful friends and me,
Proud fathers tap the glass,
Trying to get us to move,
Usually we just sit and stare,
Thinking life is just not fair.

Some of us are big,
Some are small,
But we would all agree,
We should not be,
Behind closed cages,
Performing here for thee.

The monkeys hang from plastic tress,
The tigers in a cage,
The elephants trumpet so very loud,
Dreaming of their lands,
Where sand is real,
And foods not stale,
And they are ruled by a male.

The seals they swim round and round,
Catching frozen fish,
The rhinos think of a plan,
To get them out of this.

We can only hope and wish,
The huge human race,
Would leave us be,
With our natural company,
To roam the plains and the sea!