Caged

Caged My life is one of endless days inside cell one one six I live as cramped and crumpled as all the other chicks My sentence was decided way before my birth To be incarcerated in a cage inadequate for my girth My crime was genetically devised as I became a hen From egg to slaughter that’s my lot inside this sullen pen Mass incubated in a box away from mother’s wing In a crowded place of babes with garish lights deterring The lame and weak disposed of as instant as a flash The fallen in transit are by footfall quickly dashed On flimsy wire I now stand with buckled legs that ache My sisters moan and scream in pain, oh what a noise they make No feathers now, just scrawny skin, our combs are deathly pale With dirt and filth abundant we must remain in jail And when our eggs decrease in yield, we face a certain death And all for being a chicken and someone else’s wealth