the barefoot bard Poet Rhyme

Notes About The Poem

Under a Woolly Blanket Fast Asleep

When you browse the contents of this poem
perhaps you are snuggled up in bed
You may be searching for enchantment
 so you when you read this poem you  may feel you've been misled

It's freezing cold outside
are you in a comfy chair by a fireside form
Have you donned a woolly jumper
That keeps you snug and warm 

Perhaps a woolly blanket to cover up your bed
you are tucked in, comfy, sound asleep
Do you ever consider where this woolly blanket comes from
what life may be like if you were born a domesticated sheep 

On entry to this planet this species begin life as a lamb
As they grow older, they are called ewes,whether or a ram

Sometimes immediately after giving birth 
a ewe departs her earthly body
The offspring adopted by the farmers wife and kids
bottle fed with cows milk the lamb becomes known as a poddy

Life for a male lamb it now gets rather messy
this young male is about to become a whether 
With sharp knife testacles and tail are lopped 
both processes done together

It's now many years since the knife was replaced
now used is an elastrator a tight rubber ring fitted around the balls
Blessed I'm not a sheep shackled with this discomfort
this lamb now classed a whether when its scrotum dies and falls

When I was young upon a farm it was from sheep
that an income was derived from the sale of greasy fleece
We would muster up the stock and yard them up
apply several different modalities for prevention of disease

I observed and was forced to take part 
in processes considered to be essentially required
In those days I never questioned, that was all I knew
Today if my father could give instructions I'd question to what extent would I abide

Like many other farm animals 
sheep are simply regarded as commodity
These beings feel pain emotional trauma
much of what I have witnessed , I now regard as atrocity

Upon reaching adulthood sheep need  drenching to kill off parasites such as 
 flatworm fluke and tapeworm, a toxic fluid from a drenching gun is shoved into the gullet
There's a process that's called crutching, removes poo stuck to the bum
excess wool  removed from round the eyes, it's a woolcut style a mullet

More parasites invade the skin lice mites and keds it's dipping time
 a yellow coloured arsenic mixed in a five by one by one metre concrete trough
Push the sheep into this liquid dunk their heads whilst they swim
when they're out and standing I have often heard them cough

How to deal with footrot? Grab the sheep 
turn it upside down and place it in a cradle 
There's paring of  infected hooves, then walk them through a formalin bath
Absorbed into sheep's body arsenic and formalin. Is it clean flesh that arrives upon your table

I'd like to avoid the gory bits but the sheep are prone to blow fly infestation
end up with maggots, mainly around the ass
No anaesthetic to numb the flesh 
a sharp knife is deployed to remove the toxic mass

A year has passed since birth this ovine species is about to be shorn
an annual event that lasts for several days 
Sheep are penned for twenty four hours or more
they'll be dragged upon their backsides to the shearing bays

Contortion of the body twisting of the head to remove all  fleece
Sharp clippers cause injuries that form some lasting  nasty scars
To stem the flow of blood that's shed
shearing lacerations are daubed with sticky tar

My sensitivity to the plight of animals heightened 
thirteen years work as a Meat inspector inside a house of slaughter
An ugly place to work 
never hear the sound of laughter

Everything I eat is raw and plant based apart from raw eggs
it's fifty years since I consumed any form of meat
You are are a raw vegan (I'm not), some they do declare
I accept no tags from what I hear them  bleat

Unlike the vegan philosophy I accept death as part of life
All species are either eating or waiting to be eaten
It's the cruelty I abhor
domesticated animals are physically and emotionally brow beaten 

There are quotes I've often heard that state 
there are many in society sound asleep 
There's no reaction to the evil 
they blindly follow like a sheep

...wagging their tails behind them hello Bo Peep
I'm feeling blessed I'm not born a farm animal 
and that most definitely includes a sheep

♡Like0

Share Poem

---

Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment