Elephant slave in the timber moving business

The absurdity of expecting an Elephant
To drag
Timber tree trunks up a steep incline
I watch them flag
Drawing in deep draughts of air
And pulling for all they are worth
Sliding on the muddy bank backwards
Through the earth

Clearly this enormous effort
Its front legs turned in to
Prevent it sliding backwards
As gravity wants it to
Reaching to the very top
It lets out a tremendous sigh
Then has to drag them down the road
Its enough to make you cry
This is just slave labour
With such a heavy load

Its muscles clearly seizing up
Lactic acid pain
The weight of two long timbers
That he has to drag again
This time down the winding road
Probably to town
Slowly and laboriously
Its really getting him down

The traffic doesn’t help him
And the sun is bursting through
And nobody gives him water
They just expect him too
Pull his blooming guts out
So the man can make some cash
And forget of course to feed him
Except perhaps for trash

Its heart breaking to watch him
The exertion its too much
Being fair is one thing
But this guy is out of touch
With reality as most blokes are
When giving work to do
And this elephant is not a lazy soul
I promise you

Elephants they suffer so
At the hands of man
They could crush him with one run
And life would go down the pan
But they remain quite stalwart and impatient
With their lot
So what we do is take advantage
Ill treat them and expect
Them to go on forever
Unfed and unchecked

It knocks years off of them sadly
We are a rotten lot
We need to learn to just be fair
Watching them go to pot
Feeling for them and caring
Would be a good idea
Letting them rest between stints
But nobody will hear

Poor elephants