Tuesday, October 4, 2011

CIRCUS ELEPHANTS




I feel such sorrow for circus elephants
Treated inhumanely and disrespectfully
So magnificent and intelligent
Yet forced to performed a mundane and unnatural routine daily
Their freedom and homeland stripped from them

I empathize with the restrained pachyderms
Who are driven to their breaking point and disobey
Running, fleeing their bondage--hoping to escape back to their roots
Only to suffer the consequences of a most certain death sentence

Perhaps they have weighed the consequences
And decided that death is more inviting than
Just existing in a concrete jungle
While they dream of wide open places, lush foliage--
The endemic homeland from which some were captured and enslaved

I sort of felt like a circus elephant might feel
When my mother was taken away
And I was at a loss to stop my sisters
Who had gone behind my back and set a plot in motion
To move my elderly mother with dementia away from me

I hurried from one to another desperate for answers
Yet getting nothing but disrespect, hostility, threats and mayhem
I was the butt of their evil, selfish scheme
But an elephant never forgets...
@Joanne Kennedy 2011

1 comment:

  1. Joanne, your writing just gets better and better. This is a really good piece.

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