Poem on eating meat (by the animals)

Poem of Animals on Eating Meat By Tulku Pema Wangyal

Now for a tasty bit of meat, you think,
Cooked with fragrant spices...
But for us that means terror and unbearable agony
As you wrench the dear life from our dear bodies
In an inferno of flames.
Think about it for a moment: in reality,
you are cooking us alive.

You are utterly terrified of the war with Iraq
You are scared it's going to be a Third World War
It's true, it's very frightening-
But we are tormented always by even greater fear.

Alas! Wise humans, listen to us for a moment:
If really you are ravaged by famine and starvation
And tortured by poverty, without even a stitch of clothing,
Then- though to us our lives are as precious as yours are to you -
We gladly offer you our bodies and our lives.
But if not, through kindness and love, grant us just this:
The freedom to live in peace In places free form unceasing fear.

May the thought of peace effortlessly take birth
In the minds of all living creatures
Below, upon and above the Earth
So that the dawn of peace breaks forth.
May all viciousness and aggression be pacified
And vanish of their own accord.

Since all creatures without exception, great or small,
Want only to be happy and not to suffer,
May they have compassion and kindness, the source of happiness
May they be free from aggression and cruelty,
the source of suffering.

Sincerely yours,
Lobster, Snail, Frog,Sheep, Cow.... and P.W.

Originally published in 1991 in the booklet Food for Thought by the Padmakara Translation Group (PTG),an offering to commemorate the visit of H.H. Dalai Lama to France, August 1991.Published at Shabkar.Org with kind permission of the author and founder of the PTG, Tulku Pema Wangyal.
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