Cruel Comfort Poem by Tony Jolley
Cruel Comfort
He
[Or 'she' – how does one tell? ]
Was some:
2000 €,
10,000 km,
200 vertical feet,
20 °C,
40% humidity
Infinitely too much humanity
And a continent and a country
Away from the company
Of its own kind:
Of home.
Yet,
So desperate for even caged consolation
He inclined his head,
Offering his nape,
As if before the Sultan:
To strike or to stroke
Inviting contact,
Any contact:
Cruel comfort or sweet release
From a steel-bound existence
Prey to a gravity
He once could negate at a thought,
His former unchained reality
Now sadly relegated to fleeting dreams
Be-deviled and broken
By 24-hour daylight security.
Alone in abject slavery,
Yet still he craved contact with me.
Me: representative of all who would not see him free.
We don't deserve animals, do we?
[Lament for the lot of the Gabon Grey Parrot in a cage in the Botannic Garden Centre]
I knew it had to be a caged creature as I read down knowing I would end up being upset. 'Be-deviled and broken, alone in abject slavery'. Strong images Tony and how I hate cages! 10 Karin Anderson
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/26/2024 3:51:49 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Superb and touching, Tony. I cannot but feel the same way but try to console myself - or assuage my part of the collective guilt - by telling myself that it's 'different' for animals and birds - like fish with their four second memories! Despite that, freedom is the right of every creature, regardless of whether we, in our bizarre arrogance, consider them intelligent or worse, measure their intellect by our own questionable standards! Some day, I am sure, history will look back upon the cages, zoos, circuses, assorted menageries and even animal test laboratories, and shudder. Sadly, it will not be in our lifetime. Thank you for confronting us with our short-sightedness, ignorance and disrespect to our fellow creatures.