An Elk speaks....if animals could speak, what would they tell us humans?

Majestic and powerful,

dressed in winter coat and wearing his crown,

his eyes gazes across the white clad land.

 

Here, where humans seldom roam,

he feels safe traveling on his own.

For days he has wandered,

through forests filled with wonder.

 

He has made his way across silent lakes,

now void of swans, ducks and drakes.

He has pushed his way through layers of snow

eyes nearly blinded by its glow.

 

In him rests no guile, no spite, no greed,

in him rests no overpowering all consuming need,

to conquer, to control, to consume, to possess,

to subjugate, to circumvent, to acquiesce.

 

He is Elk, a dignified, and a noble creature,

strength and power, some of his features.

He poses no threat to the human being,

yet his life is threatened, every hunting season.

 

If he could speak, what would he say?

Would he ask: why is killing your way?

Do you not have an astounding mind,

a brain so capable, and so refined,

that not even the laws of nature can fetter your kind?

 

With such a potential could it not be used

for more harmony rather than abuse,

for more inclusion of all earths creatures,

all with their own, very particular features?

 

Perhaps now is the time, for us called human kind,

to open our eyes and truly understand,

that all life is to be cherished, all life is grand,

whether it is lived in water, the air, or on the land.

(Citizen Z (former X)

 

"Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." (Albert Einstein)

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

(Gandhi)

"Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not die, so do other creatures." (The Dalai Lama)