Live exports a step too far

Live exports show us
how compassion doesn’t find its way
into Government circles
or the Farmers Psyche, they
think about closing the deal
and the money in the bank
as for the fate of animals
their faces just go blank

Its nearly 7000 nautical miles
so a way to go
across the Indian Ocean
the Arabian Sea
we know
it really is a journey
a struggle for the soul
and being loaded in a hold
it is hard to control

the emotions and the spirit
the experience appears
so different from what you are used to
with all our latent fears
with all our wearisome worrying
tossed into what is Hell
a dark and smelly concrete
floor where nobody feels well

We have to stand together
whether we like it, or not
we feel the beating of each others hearts
it is a lot
to take in, as to what is happening
for each of us believes
we’re going to meet our maker
and all that, that achieves

Across the Indian Ocean
into the Arabian Sea
where storms can catch up on you
where its not nice to be
huddled in a corner
swamped and feeling woe
forlorn the aggravation
of being down below

clearly the wind is getting up
we can hear its awesome roar
we can feel the waves encircling us
you just cannot ignore
this fear that wells inside of us
we have that sense of awe
we feel and realise the consequences
more and more

standing up gets difficult
as the movement tends to be
violent we are thrown about
and bruised continually
for us it is not rational
our reasoning won’t go
as far into the psyche
our capacity to flow

we are imageless compared to you
but still fear wells up inside
we know when something carries risk
and take it in our stride
but holed up in a darkly place
with the world outside our sphere
and to hear the crashing of the waves
that apparently feels near

is altogether different
we are spooked beyond belief
we shake, our nerves are jangled
really there’s no relief

its just a consistant gnawing
on our spirits to resolve
and being tossed and worried
our world seems to revolve

the severity of passage
for us it feels severe
we are standing, in water
overwhelmed its clear

its dark
our bowels are looser
the turbulence is high
there is a genuine feeling
that we are going to die

in a whirlpool of emotions
in a force beyond what we
we are thrown about
but despite our strength
for us it cannot be

drifting from this actual place
thought patterns close our mind
in a semi dream state
somehow we all find

some comfort in the closeness
of our bodies and the beat
of what is our experience
but what is a growing heat

surfaces within us
its that chasm of the unknown
a vast force now around us
that seemingly has grown

the storm is clearly raging
and we honestly can feel
its anger and its vehemence
it is so very real

a sickness overcomes us
our stomachs seemingly
feel heavy we are hungry
and we are so thirsty

the motion though is constant
for me I feel so ill
I wish deep down inside
that this world could just be still

our eyes are rolling this way
and that way all the time
our hearts are beating faster
the unknown there’s no rhyme

or reason for this
why have we been put through
so much pain
it just seems so unreasonable
and what is there to gain

our prospects are in question
we have been assigned to stay
in the confines of this smelly hold
and truthfully we pay

a hefty price for ignorance
in the moment we are here
we occupy this hell hole
and we do so out of fear

the man tribe have deserted us
which is some ways suits us well
their frustrations and their anger
for us can be real hell

they prod us and they kick us
and they shout at us, so we
are pleased in some ways to be here
alone and relatively

free of their disturbance
and there seems to be a calm
most of us are bruised and pained
some have come to harm

some are laying motionless
some are bleeding too
whatever we experienced
whatever we sailed through

took its toll on all of us
it took us over and
we knew the force was greater
than we could understand

and so in calmer waters
our fate is once again
on our minds it underlines
and creates that inner pain

still standing in water
feeling cold and sick
tasting saltiness in the air
every time we lick

ourselves and a gnawing feeling
brought about by fear
by all that stuff around us
which has never been that clear

suddenly collectively we hear it
clanging grating violent rolling doors
the man tribe are upon us. there s daylight
a freshness but still water on the floors

those shouts, they always shout
they are aggressive
their tone is loud its frightening to hear
are they going to beat us
we are hoping,
not it seems
to us though its not clear

we’ve docked somewhere
the heat is feeling constant
we’re guided off and back again on land
the sun is hot and there’s a lot
of people dressed in white
the reason why
we do not understand

we’re led into another dark enclosure
some of us were left behind for they
were overcome by the motion
and commotion
and never lived to see
this bright new day

for me that journey was
so really harrowing
I’m bruised my heart is sad
I wept a lot
having left the farm
which I grew up in
seemingly my whole life’s
gone to pot

the realisation dawns on us
our true end’s probably near
our farmers sold us overseas
that is why we are here

it has been really awful
and we wonder really why
anyone would do this to us
our stress was just too high

but clearly we are off to
the slaughterhouse and we
will be dispatched to the rainbow bridge
and hopefully will be

there without the agony
without more evil pain
if we could only close our eyes
and not open them again

for the sights and smells
of this man place is awful
spreading fear
so many flies around us
their buzzing can you hear?

its so loud they are massive
great blue bodies they
are clearly bound to taste
our sweat and blood
some time today