Battery Chick Hatchling Poem by C Richard Miles

Pale, frail. lemon, flaxen powderpuffs in the sawdust,
Cheep-cheeping chicks pierce the air with shrill peeps
Whilst, worn-out with the struggle, one of their sisters
Shivers with tiredness, then gives up hope and sleeps
For a while, escape-attempt energy all spent, ready to flop
Exhausted, a congealed blob in the shell, half dead
Till, with one more heart-rending effort, one push,
First a tiny wing, a foot and then her expectant head
Peers our, wide-eyed, ready to live, taking in the sight
Of an alien, unwelcoming, but potential-filled world.
New life, nature’s miracle springs from egg’s prison
To start her new jail sentence as a caged battery-bird.