NaPoWriMo 2015 22

Today we are pastoral.

Come away, shepherd, come away, and dance
And sing with me. Join your voice
With mine in hymns of praise, for
This land that feeds us.
Praise with me the modified corn
That grows for miles on the dust-filled
Prairie, and join your voice in
Happy refrain in recognition of
The acres planted with cloned carrots,
All the same, and repellent to carrot
Fly; then in our verse of honour, consider
The humble potato, no chance of blight,
Bred to be smashed into submission
And reformed as a 'french fry' in
Burgalds grease-ridden plastic cafe;
And in our next refrain, remember there
The pens of pigs, on mud and ancient
Straw, unable to turn, but feeding all
The time to fatten for the bacon
That we will eat in the morning.

And then think, dear shepherd, think
Of the lambs that used to sport and play
On fields of green, that now frolic in
Barns and on barren land. And dine with me,
Oh shepherd fair, on lamb chops from
New Zealand, freshly imported from half
Way round this world. And lastly remember
The chickens that cannot stretch their wings,
That live in cages as long as they continue
To lay their eggs.
Come away, dear shepherd, come away,
And weep with me, for the poison we
Have buried deep in this fertile land,
And for the pollution we have created
In the name of progress and an easy life.

© 2ndwitch, 22/04/15