I’m tired, my knees ache, I have sore feet,

My belly is heavy with child inside.

Head is aching from the blistering heat,

What’s coming is worse, I’m desperate to hide.

****

Last year I cheerfully bore my first child,

All the discomfort and pain were worth it.

My love for him instant, instinctive, wild,

Overwhelmed me, the light in my heart lit.

****

I washed him and nursed him, my suckling angel,

My purpose in life was now clear to me –

To love him, protect him and teach him well.

Like any other mother I would be.

****

The sun set that day and the bright moon rose,

And we spent a blissful night together.

Brief nirvana before that bitter dose,

When hell swallowed me whole, meat and leather.

****

At dawn I heard their heavy stomping feet,

They approached us as I was feeding him.

Without shame they just pulled him off the teat,

I jumped and bellowed but couldn’t stop them.

****

I suppose I went out that day and grazed,

My anguish unheard, unnoticed even.

Like the others I stood, I laid down, dazed.

Can’t comprehend, can’t believe. I’m broken.

****

Now aching with the weight of my udder,

Infection inflames, I wince when they suck the

Milk from my teats, by machine, I shudder.

Bereft of my child, enslaved non-mother.

Go Vegan to keep mother and child together!

And look at Where are you going Deidra? – it’s got a happy ending 🙂