Born in Sri Lanka shipped to the Philippines (Human name Mali)

I came from Sri Lanka
I remember the day
I was just 3 years old
a baby they say
with my dear mother
close by my side
loving me, teaching me
I could confide

with her, she was beautiful
she was so strong
knowledgeable lovely
what could go wrong
everything, and it did
one sunny day
when the sky was as blue
and a breeze made me sway

men came, those brutes
with their hooks and their chains
grabbed me
they hit mother
those blokes were pains
split us up, shouted at us
from the start
those men they didn’t have
any heart

inside of me I did
and well I just cried
and as time has passed
well each day I have died
a little, I have become
sad and withdrawn
she loved me a lot
from the day I was born

she cared for me
helped me
she was there for me
and now I was packed up
and on the salt sea
emotionally I was such a wreck
they had bill hooked my leg
and scraped my poor neck

I was consigned to manila
addressed to the zoo
a small concrete structure
that just smelled of poo
dirty and dusty and all I could see
was vast crowds of people
staring at me

throwing me bread
I don’t eat all that dough
throwing me pies
all that fat
don’t they know
I don’t eat meat
I like vegetation
but they give me rotten food
no celebration

of life
no nothing at all
and I of course can’t hear
my dear mother call
I became quite depressed
the boredom, its rife
I live in a nightmare
of pity and strife

no where to forage
no dust baths to try
and keep my skin clean
don’;t they know why
I need a nice water hole
they do appear
to be dreadfully ignorant
these people here

I imagined my mother
and how she would feel
had she coped when I left
no one did reveal
really what happened
i think, she just died
Oh!my darling sweet mother
on her I’d relied

no one, comes to see me
no vets around here
its dirTy and hot
insect ridden, my fear
my cracked heels and nails
are so very sore
and there is no grass
just concrete and more

as for the keepers
they are no use
they work without thought
and give me such abuse
they haven’t a clue
about what I need
and honestly hopefully
now you can read

how my life has panned out
in this hell of a zoo
and hopefully you
will be able to do
something together to make
life for me
at least a bit better
than what you can see

I do so need help
I can’t die here
for I
am already messed up
my mind I rely
on my eyesight and its going too
what to do
lay down and die
help me will you?

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