The Gaza cows and how we felt on those days when we left the old country

We knew something was up

for it came early

the great big truck

was parked out in the yard

we hadn’t had our breakfast

it was late that day

all of us were jumpy

and on guard

 

 

 

the sun was beating down out there

already

I felt a sort of awe it just occurred

clearly we were off somewhere today

a last look around the light was

truly everywhere

and rattling chains and diesel smells

we heard

 

 

then they came and drove us to the vehicle

we were stumbling along

perhaps a bird.

I looked up to the blue sky

a bird flew over head

and seemingly

I heard the rustle of the

silver Eucalpt’s

and realized where

I quite soon could be

 

 

on the road to Freo

to the docks and off by sea

to somewhere far away perhaps

where we didn’t want to be

 

up the ramps and into

this massive smelly truck

standing close together

now we knew our luck

 

 

had run out perhaps for ever

and how far would it be

we hadn’t had our breakfast

and were insight of the sea

 

that saltiness that rolling motion

none of us could dare

to realize our future

and really why we

were there

 

again the dock was noisy

and we were lifted aboard

tied up like a parcel

somebody’s reward

 

on the ship we were frightened

all of us, we thought

were we going to our deaths

had somebody bought

 

us all, what was going to happen

it was a dreary ride

the swell was giving us feeling

of nausea inside

 

many of them shit themselves

many of them cried

you could cut the tension with a knife

and deep inside

 

all of us were shivering

it wasn’t that it was cold

on the contrary its was far too hot

and really as it rolled

 

we were tossed about and bruised a bit

this was our voyage to hell

we still had not been fed or watered

and were shaking from the smell

 

I thought of that supposedly

sweet farmers wife

how she

had let him ship us off to hell

so bloody easily

 

 

she was always kind to us

soft hands and white face

we knew he was a bastard

and would have put him in his place

 

 

had we had the chance to do it

but why did she let this happen

we all loved her a lot

and we may not ever see her

so really this has got

 

to me a bit I have to say

to be let down as well

by her too

to be shipped like this

away and into Hell

 

the tedium was drawn out

the banality of it all

any field is better than this

rotten smelly stall

 

this graceless ugly

miserable hold

really as hard as nails

the light was masked in shadows

such hopelessness entails

 

a lot of understanding

and our understanding here

was lost in all this consternation

and misgivings and fear

 

what I would give to taste

the humble buttercup or weed

some fresh green grass

to ruminate upon

the need

 

was there to

demonstrate the order that I felt

rolling about  getting bruised

as fate clearly had dealt

 

 

a passionless voyage to no where

disillusioned by it all

sick in all my stomachs

abhorrent of the call

 

many of us vomiting

humiliated by

the uncertainty

of our future

and if we were going to die

 

many broken spirits

littered that hold that day

the hostility was everywhere

and why were we made to pay

 

it was an abomination

the bitterness inside

and a lot of real time anger

that couldn’t be denied

 

I thought about the Farmers wife

her soft hands and white face

always wearing pretty dresses

a bit of a nut case

 

but always very kindly

towards me I have to say

I really thought she loved me

but she too tossed me away

 

inside myself I am sad of course

I do feel so let down

Leaving dear Australia and bound

for Gaza town

 

to the unexpected horrors

the heat, the flies, the knife

Born  out in the countryside

and where I may lose my life

 

is in some blood racked smelly abattoir

beside the  salty sea

in a cramped up blood soaked room

my legs tied painfully

 

as some vile sod with a rusty blade

hacks away at me

I try alas to escape the pain

that just goes right through me

 

I dodge the knife a few times

but he sticks it in my eye

the pain is excruciating

all I can do is cry

 

and try still to avoid him

if only I could bite

his bollocks off or something

before I lose the light

 

but |I am not a carnivore

I was not made this way

but this bastard he needs taking down

a peg or two today

 

The knife comes in ahrgh!!!! I felt that one

my jugular has gone

I am losing blood like a fountain

my thoughts now they are on

 

I am losing it

a few more thoughts of the beauty

 

of  my mother

 I saw her face so clearly

then she was gone and I was too

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but I know now

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#

 

 

 

 

 

 

was camped out in the yard